_l i ijj)ij u.-.j i )M iiii . i .i i rif iiiiii i i Vi i nr'H-r ii iii Vr'i r'f ' I 'd" ' ' i ' '"" i f ! ''■' "'■■"■ - 




IlilfiWiyj^MiMBMaaBWMftlMilil.lllitMni'i'i'i 



LIBRARY OF CONGRESS. 






UNITED STATES OF A3IEEIC:A. 



Digitized by the Internet Archive 
in 2011 with funding from 
The Library of Congress 



http://www.archive.org/details/eddystravelsinasOOeddy 



Tlie Reandabsat Bosks 



DRIFTING ROUND THE WORLD 

A VOYAGE IN THE SUNBEAM 

OUR BOYS IN INDIA 

OUR BOYS IN CHINA 

YOUNG AMERICANS IN JAPAN 

YOUNG AMERICANS IN TOKIO 

YOUNG AMERICANS IN YEZO 

THE FALL OF SEBASTOPOL 

FIGHTING THE SARACENS 

THE YOUNG COLONISTS 

THE YOUNG BUGLERS 

THE HERO OF PINE RIDGE 

THE OCEAN ROVERS 

EDDY'S TRAVELS IN EUROPE 

EDDY'S TRAVELS IN ASIA AND 
AFRICA 




ENTRANCE TO THE KHAN EL-KHALIL. 




HE^ovNDAB^VTpOOlfS 




BV 

Rev. D. C.Eddv, 

AVALTERS T^vn IN TME EAST 
"T/^AVELS \n EUROPE " 



0¥COJV^ 



l^^DEC 4 1993 

BOSTON". ^^^ WAon-^^ ^ 

Charles E.Brown & Co. 6^-^f^J 



\ 



K 



Copyright, 1S93, 
Charles E. Brown & Co. 



«RKHIUL a CO., 

B15T0N 



TABLE OF CONTENTS. 



In Morocco 9 

Things at Home. — Malta. — Tangier. — Cape Malabet. — Fez. — Morocca — 
Manufactures. — Mogadore. 

In Algeria 33 

The Pirates. — The Guide. — As-amar. — Rabuat. — Constantia. — Startling Ad- 
ventures. — Illness. 

In Tunis and Tripoli 39 

City of Tunis. — Roman Remains. — The Caravansary. — The Servant in Trouble. 

— Our Hostess. 

In Alexandria 45 

The Coast. — Alexandria. — Donkey Boys. — The Hotel. — Blindness. — Flies. 

— Pompey's Pillar. — Cleopatra's Needles. — The Catacombs. 

In Asia Minor 62 

New Friends. — Jaffa. — Ramlah. — Smyrna. — Ephesus. — Diana. — Pergamos. 

— Laodicea. — Sardis. — Philadelphia. — Thyatira. — Nineveh. — Babylon. 

In Damascus 98 

First View. — Mahomet. — Abana and Pharpar. — Antiquity. — Straight Street— 
Maronite Quarter. — Dangers. — Flight. 

In Galilee Ill 

Chorazin. — Magdala. — Tiberias. — Sea of Galilee. — Mount Tabor. — Nazareth. — 

Synagogue. — Safet. 

In Samaria 123 

Samaria. — Esdraelon. — Battle of Mount Tabor. — Ebal. — Gerizim. — Jacob's 
Well. — Nablous. — Sebastia. — Shiloh. — Adventures with the People. 



VI 



CONTENTS. 



VAom 

In Jerusalem 137 

An Evening with the Boys. — Jerusalem. — Camps. — A Week around the City. — 
Gihon. — Siloam. — The Gates. — Via Dolorosa. — Church of the Sepulchre. — 
Church of the Armenians. — Olivet. — The Temple Area. — Scripture Scenes. 

In Jericho . .... ... 165 

Consultation. — Long Ride. — The Camp. — Dancing Girls. — The Jordan. — 
Greek Bathing Place. 

In Bethlehem - 179 

The Dead Sea.— The Town.— Church of Nativity. — Mar Saba.— Convent 
Life. — The Milk Grotto. — Bible Illustrations. — Shepherds. 

In Hebron 200 

Cave of Adullam. — Cave of Machpelah. — Glass Works. — Productions of the 
Section. — Prince of Wales. — Dean Stanley. 

In Egypt 207 

The Desert. — Sinai. — Suez. — Cairo. — Pyramids. — The Sphinx. — Heliopolis. 
— The Nile. — Donkey riding. — Street Scenes, — Funeral Scenes. — Wedding Cere- 
monies. — Customs of the People. — Government. — Mohammed All. — The Mame- 
lukes. — Emin Bey. — Joseph's Well. — Old Tree. — Nilometer. — Cheops. — Dash- 
oor. — Memphis. — Thebes. — Karnac. 

In Southern Africa . . 253 

Ipsamboul. — Birds of the Nile. — Fish of the Nile. — Monsters of the Nile. — 
Nubia. — Zanzibar. — Madagascar. — City Life. — The Interior. — Changes. 

In India ... 269 

Ceylon. — Colombo. — Kandy. — Madras. — Buddha. — Tanjore. — Travelling in 
India. — The Thugs. — William Carey. — Henry Martyn. — The Himalayas. — East 
India Company. — The Punjaub. — Agra. 



LIST OF ILLUSTRATIONS. 







PAGE 






Entrance to the Khan El-Khalil, Frontispiece. 


Water Boy of Smyrna . , . . 


The Memorial Well at Cawupore, Title Page. 


Plain of Ephesus 




Crossing the River .... 9 


Amphitheatre at Ephesus . 




St. Paul's Bay, Malta . 




14 


Ruins at Ephesus 




Rip Van Winkle Taking a Ride 




15 


Pergamos .... 




View of Tangier . 




18 


Ak Hissar .... 




Fish Merchants . 






20 


Sardis 




Serpent Charmers 






23 


Philadelphia 




In the Interior 






25 


Birs Nimroud 




Mode of Transportation 






27 


Damascus .... 




Costumes in Morocco . 


- 




29 


Public Garden 




Fruit Gathering . 






31 


Street in Damascus 




On a Litter .... 






Zl 


Cedar Grove 




Hassan 






35 


Temple of Baalbec 




Laid up in the Hut 






36 


Fallen Pillar 




Natives Building Hut . 






39 


Lake of Gennesareth . 




Interior of House 






41 


Magdala .... 




Our Victims 






42 


Arab Story Teller 




Our Hostess 






43 


A Woman of Nazareth 




Window of the Harem 






45 


Spring at Nazareth 




Old Harbor of Alexandria . 






47 


The Carpenter's Shop . 




Water Carrier, 






50 


Valley of Shechem 




Place Mohammed Ali . 






53 


Plain of Esdraelon 




Silk Workers 






56 


Nablous 




Pompey's Pillar . 






59 


Jacob's Well 




Gathering Dates . 






61 


Samaritan Priest . 




Palmyra .... 






62 


Evening on the Housetop . 




Jaffa from the North . 






. 64 


Temple Area and Mount of 01iv« 


'S 


Pearl Merchants . 






67 


Street in Jemsalem 




Lydda .... 






68 


Pool of Hezekiah 




Ploughing in Palestine 






. 69 


Tomb of Absalom 




Ramlah .... 






71 


Mosque of Omar 




Sidon 






73 


Church of the Holy Sepulchre 




Beirut .... 






75 


Stone of Unction 




Tobacco Seller . 






76 


St. Stephen's Gate 




Flower Seller 






n 


Jerusalem and Olivet . 




Smyrna . . . 






79 


Fountain of Elisha . . 





viii 



LIST OF ILLUSTRATIONS. 





PAGE 


Arab at Tent Door 


. 167 


Arabs on the Plain 


169 


Ruined Aqueduct near Jericho . 


• 171 


Banks of the Jordan . 


. 175 


Old Khan 


. 179 


Harvest-Carrying in Palestine 


. 181 


Church of the Nativity 


182 


Eastern Gleaners 


183 


Shepherd Boy of Bethlehem 


187 


Convent of Mar Saba . . . . 


189 


Bethlehem, looking East 


192 


Women of Bethlehem . . . . 


195 


Abraham's Oak 


200 


Hebron 


201 


Cave of Adullam . . . . 


202 


Hebron and Cave of Machpelah . 


203 


Solomon's Pool 


205 


Emblematic Egypt . . . . 


207 


First Ride on a Camel 


209 


The Dromedary Race . . . . 


211 


Street in Suez 


212 


Town of Suez 


213 


Street in Cairo . .' . . . 


215 


Kilometer 


217 


Mameluke's Leap . . . . 


219 


Obelisk at Heliopolis . . . . 


221 


Going to Heliopolis . . . . 


223 


Garden in Heliopolis . . . . 


225 


Mary's Tree 


226 


A Trip to the Pyramids — old style 


228 


Foot of the Pyramid . . . . 


229 


Pyramid of Dashoor . . . . 


231 


Ascent of the Pyramid 


233 


Pyramid of Sakhara . . . . 


234 


The Sphinx 


239 


Funeral Procession . . , . 


241 


Mummy Cases 


242 


Marriage Procession . . . . 


243 


Nile Boat 


245 


Stepped Pyramid . . . 


246 


Waterwheel 


247 


Nile Monsters . . « . 


. 248 


The Lotos 


■ 249 


The Papyrus .... 


. 249 



Propylon at Karnac 

Column of Thothmes IIL 

Gypsy Tent . 

Temple of Ipsamboul 

One of Them 

Electric Shad 

Tetrodon 

Kanooma 

Finny Pike . 

Aboo and Selim 

Life in the Interior 

Zanzibar 

Street in Tamatave 

Foliage in Madagascar 

Chief's House, Tamatave 

Madagascans 

Interior of Madagascar 

Buddhist Temple . 

Ceylon Elephants 

Kandy . 

Buddha's Tooth . 

Temple of the Dalada 

Madras Surf 

Temple of Soubramanya 

Rock Temple 

Milk Sellers of Madras 

Pagoda at Pondicherry 

Travelling in India 

Bullock Carriage . 

Religious Mendicant . 

Railway Travelling 

Martyn's House . 

On the Way to the Himalayas 

Benares 

Pavilion of Tinka 

State Elephants . 

Indian Fakir 

Ranch Mahal Futtepore Sikri 

Jumma Mus-jid, Delhi . 

Hall of Private Audience 

Tomb of Rungit-sing 

Golden Temple of the Sikhs 

Floating Gardens of Srinagur . 

Shops of Kashmir 



PAGE 

250 
251 

253 
254 

255 
256 
256 
257 

257 
258 

259 
260 

262 
263 
264 
265 
267 
269 

273 
274 
275 
276 
277 
279 
280 
282 
283 
285 
286 
287 
291 
293 
295 
397 
298 
300 
302 
304 
305 
307 
30S 

309 



RIP VAN WINKLE TRAMPING ON. 




CROSSING THE RIVER. 




ASTER VAN WERT was in Paris when last we parted 
with him, maturing his plans for a trip to the distant East. 
He had been reading, consulting maps, conversing with 
recent travellers, and gaining such information as he could, and was 
now looking about for some one to accompany him. 

One day he was walking leisurely along the Champs El3^sees, that 
fine promenade, striking west from Place de la Concorde one and a 
quarter miles, laid out with foot and carriage paths, and forming a 
beautiful resort for the gay and fashionable crowds, who sit and walk 
by hours, hearing sweet music and witnessing gay scenes. He had 
entered the Avenue de Neuilly, and was going toward the Triumphal 



jQ RIP VAN WINKLE TRAMPING ON. 

Arch, when a gentleman paused in front of him, with the ex- 
clamation, — 

"Well!" 

The master stopped, looked in the face of the gentleman, hesitated 
a moment, and then, with a smile on his face, answered, — 

"Well!" 

"You recognize me, then, at last? " 

"Yes; though I did not expect to see you here to-day." 

"Some people turn up when we least expect to see them, you 
know." 

"Yes, and I am heartily glad to see you; it does one good to see 
the face of a friend in a distant land." 

The gentleman was a New York merchant, who often crossed the 
ocean, and who was not a stranger in the streets of Paris. His name 
we shall call " Goodspeed." 

" Let me ask," said Master Van Wert, " when you came from 
home, when you reached Paris, where you are staying, and where 
you are bound ? " 

" Four questions to be answered at once," said Mr. Goodspeed. 

" One at a time." 

" I left New York three weeks ago, and after a short stop in 
England came directly to Paris, where, as you see, I am ; I am 
resting my weary self at the Grand Hotel, and next week, like a bird 
of passage, shall take my flight." 

"Where to?" 

" Where I don't want to go." 

"Ah, where is that?" 

"To Morocco." 

" Morocco ? " 

" Yes, sir, against my will ; but business compels me." 

"I should think the trip would be an interesting and profitable 



PLANNING HIS ROUTE. jj 

" It might be to one who had never been to that country. But I 
have been there twice, and now go for the third time." 

" How do you go? By what route? " 

" I proceed to Marseilles, as much of the way as I can by water, 
to get rid of the dust and noise of the railroad. There I shall find a 
steamer or sailing vessel, I do not know or care which, in which I 
shall go, via Malta, to Tangier, where my business lies." 

"Where then?" 

" Then to Algeria, Tunis, Tripoli, and Egypt. I shall merely touch 
at Egypt to take a steamer for Smyrna." 

" A curious round-about trip." 

"Yes, but one I am forced to take. And now for your plans?" 

" They are not made." 

" Then can I not persuade you to go with me, as I suppose yon 
are free to go at will ? " 

"Is this a good season to visit Morocco?" 

" As good as any. Come, pack your travelling kit, and go with 
me. 

" I don't know. I was thinking of going to Egypt, up the Nile. 
into the heart of Africa." 

" Perhaps you can vary your route, and take Africa later in the 
season. I would be glad of company, and will make my arrange- 
ments to suit yours, if you will let me have the privilege." 

" I have no arrangements to make. My valise is packed, ready 
for a start, and I can be ready at any moment, and am inclined to go 
with you. I am here without much plan, except to see as much as 
possible in the time I have to remain." 

" Let it be so fixed; and if you will tell me at what hotel you are 
staying, I will call upon you in the evening, and we will fix our time 
of starting and our mode of travel." 

" All right," said the master, as he shook hands with his friend 
and turned away. 



12 



RIP VAN WINKLE TRAMPING ON, 



" This is just what I want, I think/' said the master, as he moved 
off toward his hotel. He had seen Paris by sunlight and gaslight, aJ- 
midday and at midnight. He had been to churches filled with images; 
to vast libraries; to cabinets of antique articles, where are objects of 
great curiosity and every namable and unnamable wonder; to the 
Bourse, where the living daily throng in such crowds; to the In- 
valides, where he saw the old soldiers of the Empire; to Pere la 
Chaise, where are the tombs of Heloise and Abelard; to the 
Gobelins, where the curious tapestry is manufactured; to the Cata- 
combs under the city; and to the Morgue, the resting-place of unfor- 
tunates. He had seen Paris, and was ready to go. So when Mr. 
Goodspeed came in that evening it was not hard to decide on plans 
for future work. 

" I think," said the master, " that we can reach Marseilles in a 
way that will be more interesting to us than to go by rail all the way, 
which, though the most expeditious route, is the least interesting." 

" How would you go ? " 

" By rail to Chalons, thence by steamer on the Saone to Lyons, and 
from Lyons, on the Rhone, to Marseilles." 

" I have never been that way, and would like to enlarge my expe- 
rience by pursuing that route. As I told you, I wish to escape the 
dust of the railroad." 

" When will you be ready to start? " 

" On Monday next." 

" I will be ready at that time." 

The friends looked over the map and saw how they were to go, 
and, after a quiet chat, separated, to meet at the hour for starting on 
their journey. 

At the time appointed the two gentlemen met, and took their seats 
in one of the commodious second-class cars, those on French road? 
being much superior to those of the same grade on English roads. 
The master, without regret, turned his back on Paris, on that bright 



FROM PARIS TO MARSEILLES. j -j 

and beautiful day, glad to escape from the endless round of vain and 
frivolous amusement to the quiet scenes and cool breezes of the coun- 
try. The ride from Paris to Chalons takes a long day, and lies 
through a country finely diversified, — now passing long rows of 
women toiling like slaves in the fields, now through tunnels miles in 
length, and anon driving across beautiful vine-covered plains. They 
had all kinds of company — women, with bags containing bread, 
meat, and wine ; jabbering Frenchmen, who kept up a conversation 
delightfully unintelligible ; children, who felt it a duty to cry half the 
wa}^ ; and a few men who used an honest tongue. They arrived at 
Chalons, a town of about nineteen thousand inhabitants, at eleven 
o'clock at night, and forthwith crowded into an omnibus, which, after 
an unusual amount of scolding, fretting, snapping of the whip, rolled 
to a dirty hotel, where they stopped for the night, and at length 
gj-umbled themselves to sleep. As soon as the sun was up, on the 
following day, our two travellers breakfasted, and were ready to 
start. They were to take steamer on the Saone, and everything gave 
promise of a pleasant day. And so they found it to be. The sail 
down the River Saone is very beautiful, and the scenery all along the 
banks is most delightful, though, perhaps, not equalling the castle- 
guarded Rhine, which every traveller wishes to see. High hills, 
covered with vines, cultivated to the very summit, and sloping 
beautifully to the river ; fine villages, sleeping on the shores ; little 
boats gliding up and down ; steamers now and then sweeping by, and 
rippling the waves to the flower-fringed bank on either side, — all 
render the voyage one of uninterrupted pleasure. 

At the confluence of the Saone and the Rhone lies the city of 
Lyons, where the two gentlemen remained a da}^ or two, when they 
took steamer on the Rhone for Avignon, and thence by cars to Mar- 
seilles. The ride to the latter city was a pleasant one, the cars good, 
and the rails smooth and easy. At Marseilles they found a little 
French steamer which was going to Tangier, and took passage there- 



i_. 



H 



RIP VAN WINKLE TRAMPING ON. 



cn, and were soon afloat on the great sea, sailing toward the coast of 
Africa. On their way down they touched at Palermo, and proceeded 
to Malta, an interesting place to visit, and memorable as the scene of 
St. Paul's deliverance from shipwreck. But of this voyage the master 
will speak more particularly hereafter. 





ST. PAUL S BAY, MALTA. 

Master Van Wert found Mr. Goodspeed a most entertaining trav- 
elling companion, a little too anxious to get along fast, having a great 
fund of general knowledge, and a thorough acquaintance with the 
various modes of travelling. He had visited the East many times, 
and though his tastes and pursuits were mainly in the line of business, 
he proved to be a very useful as well as entertaining voyager. 



/iV MOROCCO. 



15 



IN MOROCCO. 




RIP VAN WINKLE TAKING A RIDE. 



The boys at home who composed the Triangle had not heard 
from the old master for a long time, and were beginning to be anx- 
ious about him, and impatient for another letter, when one day 
Charlie received a package with several foreign stamps upon it, and 
the familiar handwriting of Rip Van Winkle. He had been out one 
evening, and on his return at a late hour his father placed in his 
hands the letter. The clock in the distant church tower was striking, 
one. two, three, four, live, six, seven, eight, nine, ten !, It waLi 
time for him to go to bed, but the elastic and excited fellow could not 
wait until morning to show his joy, but at once started to tell Hal. 



ri\ RIP VAN WINKLE'S TRAVELS. 

It was rather late and lonely, but he reached the house and found it 
dark and gloomy, the family having retired to rest. However, the lad 
was determined to see his friend, and so went up and pulled the bell- 
knob. 

" Tinkle — tinkle — tinkle." 

No other response, and he pulled again. 

**Tinkle — tinkle — tinkle." 

He waited a few minutes, and was about to ring again, when a 
window in an upper story was raised, and Hal put his head out to see 
who was at the bell. 

"Who is there?" 

"It's me — Charlie." 

"What do you want, old fellow? " 

" I have a letter from Rip Van Winkle. " 

" Good, first rate. When did it arrive ? " 

"I got it this evening, after my return from May Thornton's 
party. " 

" Have you seen Will ? " 

"No ; but I am going over to his house." 

"Well, to-morrow night we will have a meeting of the Triangle." 

"Will wants it to meet at his house." 

" So let it be ; good night. " 

Charlie, in his enthusiasm, started to find Will, but concluded that 
his good news would keep until morning, and wisely went home, and 
was soon asleep in bed. The next evening the Triangle met. 
About thirty invited guests were present, among whom were Dr. 
Oldschool, Mr. Speedwell the lawyer, and Rev. Mr. Earnest, a young 
clergyman who had recently been settled over one of the churches, 
and who had been asked to come in b}' Hal. 

"Order!" cried Charlie, bringing down his gavel precisely at me 
hour. 

"Order!'' 



IN MOROCCO. 



17 



Order being instantly restored, Will moved that Rev. Mr. Earnest 
be invited to open the exercises of the evening with prayer. The 
motion being put and carried, Mr. Earnest prayed that the Triangle 
might be useful and subserve a grander purpose than was proposed 
at the outset; that the lads composing it might grow up to be useful 
men, and that Master Van Wert might be protected in his travels, and 
permitted to return safely to his home and friends. 

"Amen, " responded Dr. Oldschool. 

" Amen, " was the unuttered response from every heart present. 

"Is there any unfinished business before the meeting.'"' asked the 
president. 

No response. 

"Then the letter of our travelling companion will be opened and 
read by Hal. " 

In a somewhat pretentious way Hal opened the letter, and in fine, 
manly tones, read the following: — 

Tangier. * 

Dear Boys, — You will doubtless be surprised at receiving a 
letter from Morocco, when you expected one from some part of 
Palestine. But " circumstances alter cases," and circumstances have 
led me to alter my plans very considerably, and instead of being in 
the Holy City I am in a city of the other extreme. This change of 
programme I have been led to make in consequence of having fallen 
in with Mr. Goodspeed, an American gentleman, who has persuaded 
me to come to this part of the world with him. Nor am I at all 
sorry, for I have time enough for my Asiatic trip after this is finish#d. 

We took a little steamer at Marseilles for a round-about trip to 
this place, thinking the circuitous passage would give us good company 
and pleasant surroundings. But we w^ere disappointed in all that. 
The vessel was a miserable one, and several times I thought we 
should go to the bottom, and believe we should if we had had a 
storm on the way. The officers were uncivil, and made their pas- 



IN MOROCCO. jQ 

sengers generally uncomfortable. Instead of a genteel company of 
civilized people we had a dirty set of vagabonds, among whom we 
could not recognize one decent person, with the exception of two 
} oung Americans who happened to be going to the same port that we 
were destined for. The crowd on board was made up mostly of 
the lowest class of characters, who swore and jabbered in their out- 
landish tongues until it seemed as if we had got into bedlam. Every 
part of the steamer swarmed with fleas of the most wolfish kind. We 
went to bed at night, but sleep was impossible. Every few minutes a 
hollow groan would proceed from some one of the bunks, indicative 
of the misery of the occupant. But 3''ou can imagine the discomfort 
of the passage. 

On the way down we touched at one or two places, reaching 
Malta on the morning of the third day out. This, as you know, is the 
central depot of British powder in the Mediterranean Sea, an island 
sixteen miles long, and about nine miles in the widest part, and nearly 
oval in shape. It is a fortified rock, bristling at every point with 
British cannon. The capital of the island — or rather group of islands, 
for under the general name come Gozo, Comino, Corminetto, and 
Filfla, — is Valetta, where we stopped for a few hours. The steamer 
anchored oft' the town, and we were rowed ashore by natives in small 
cockle-shell boats, which seemed as if they were going under water 
at every bend of the oars. On landing we were greeted by large 
numbers of Maltese sailors, women, and cats, from whom we escaped, 
and went up through the long narrow streets, on a tour of inspection. 
Everything was odd and singular; we took breakfast at a coffee-house, 
on very thick muddy coffee, and very coarse garlicky bread. While 
taking breakfast the milk gave out, and a goatherd coming along at 
that moment with a drove of goats and asses, the creatures were 
milked, and we were supplied. 

We had time to visit the fortifications, the governor's palace, and 
the Church of St. John. In the crypts below the church, which is a 



f- [ 




Pi,i.\HUi -^^==-'^W 



^S ^--- ^^-^r- _^^. 2>jA-f '</ v * ^ 



FISH MARKET. 



LV MOROCCO. 21 

very rich structure, are the effigies of the old knights of Malta, repos- 
ing in sculptured stone. The church has some fine specimens of 
painting and sculpture. 

In the governor's palace were some things worth noticing, — among 
the rest, a gun, said to be the first made after the invention of gunpowder. 
It is about eight feet long, made of sheet iron, wound round with rope. 
What a vast change from this almost harmless thing, made since the 
discovery of gunpowder by Schwartz in the fourteenth century, to 
those murderous weapons used in the Crimea and on the banks of 
the Potomac ! 

Cotton goods and laces are considerably manufactured. The peo- 
ple speak a corrupt Italian, dress prettily, the men in blouses and loose 
trousers, and the women in neat dresses, often of their own weaving. 
The women are very industrious, and are found in the streets selling 
fish, flowers, fruits, fancy articles, and all sorts of things. The fish 
merchants are very dilTerent from the fish women of London, whose 
fame has gone all over the world for their vulgarity and abusive talk, 
making the name of the famous fish market of that great city — Bil- 
lingsgate — synonymous with loud and insolent talk. The fish sellers 

of Malta are well dressed, well behaved, and often pretty girls, who 

o 

drive quite a business. 

The rest of the voyage to this place would have been pleasant, if 
the accommodations on board the steamer had not been intolerable. 
But the most disagreeable things come to an end, and so did the voy- 
age, and here we are in Morocco. By consulting the map, you will 
see that we went quite out of our way in order to visit Malta, the 
steamer having some business there. 

On reaching the coast opposite Tangier the question as to landing 
comes up, and the prospect of getting to the shore from the steamer, 
which is anchored a long way from the town, does not seem to be a 
very delightful one. But with the help of a lot of villainous-looking 
Arabs and negroes who came out in boats we got safely to land, and 



22 RIP VAN WINKLE'S TRAVELS. 

soon, in company with my friend, we were at the public house, if the 
miserable inn can be so designated. But we found several Europeans- 
there, and in their company things began to look a little more inviting 
and comfortable. 

My friend at once made arrangements to attend to his business 
matters, while I connected myself with some Germans who were 
travelling for pleasure. On going out into the streets we found them 
narrow, tortuous, filthy, and full of stolid-looking people, many of 
whom were armed to the teeth, and looked like brigands and assas- 
sins. The inhabitants of Tangier dress in loose robes, most of them 
— the robes, not the people — having been white once, but now sadly 
soiled; once probably whole, but now sadly tattered and torn. 

There is a square, intersected by the principal street of the place 
which makes a kind of centre, and the business of the place, the 
excitement, and general interest, cluster about it. 

At night the streets are dark, not a light being seen in any direc- 
tion, and when you are out late you will stumble over the bodies of 
the white or dirt-colored Arabs who have gone to sleep against the 
sides of the houses by the way. Do the best you might and you 
could not help tumbling over the inanimate creatures, who as you 
trampled on them only gave an expressive grunt. 

The Moors and Jews are numerous, and all the tongues of the 
earth seem to be jabbered by the people who about midday are found 
in the square. The Jews are largely engaged in trading, and, as else- 
where, they are extensively engaged in banking operations. The 
Jewesses of Morocco have a great reputation for personal beauty. 
Describing that beauty one extravagant writer says, " It is an opulent 
and splendid beauty, with large black eyes, broad low forehead, 
full red lips, and statuesque form — a theatrical beauty, that looks 
well from a distance, and produces applause rather than sighs in the 
beholder." We went through the Jewish quarter, into some of the 
Hebrew houses, and saw many Jewish ladies, but noticed nothing that 



IN MOROCCO. 



23 



came up to this idea of admiration. I think the notion of beauty in the 
Jewish women of this empire is derived from the pleasant contrast 
they form with the mulatto women, who are seen in their untidy robes 
and filthy dresses. 




SERPENT CHARMERS. 



At first I felt unsafe, but in a few da3's I became convinced that 
there was no reason to fear ill treatment or personal violence. A Euro- 
pean seems to be considered a sort of public guest, to be treated with 
respect, and protected, rather than ill used. When a mulatto is found 
guilty of abusing any one he is mounted upon a donkey, and being 
securely tied thereon is whipped through the public streets until the 
blood pours from his lacerated body. 



24 RIP VAN WINKLE'S TRAVELS. 

On a hill overlooking the place is the casba, the fortification that 
commands the town. It does not seem, to a person accustomed to 
European fortifications, to be a very formidable seat of military opera- 
tions. But as a place to obtain a fine view of the white roofs and 
glittering tops of the public buildings, with a vast extent of country 
around, it is well worth a visit. It looks as though a war vessel in 
the harbor would soon batter it down, if heavy guns could be brought 
to play upon it. 

The natives find much pleasure in the ride or walk along the fine 
beach to Cape Malabet, and on a fine day the whole w^ay may be seen 
crowded with all sorts of people, in all sorts of costumes, jabbering in 
all sorts of languages. What Central Park is to New Yorkers, this 
long drive on the Malabet beach is to the people here. The fete days 
are numerous, and when one of these occurs the sight witnessed is 
novel in the extreme. The "Antique and Horrible" processions, 
which take place in some of the New England cities on the morning 
of Independence Day, are far outdone by the crowds of negroes, mu- 
lattoes and Arabs that fill the streets, with rude instruments of music, 
showy banners, and grotesque masquerading. The great day is the 
fete of Mahomet. 

The public dancers are numerous, and as far as I could judge well 
patronized. All the sports of Morocco are very solemnly conducted. 
The music on all occasions is dirge-like, the dancing is solemn, and all 
the fun and mirth is acted out without a smile, as if it was part of a 
funeral service. The fact is, the people are too lazy to smile; if they 
try, the effort seems to overcome them. An air of indescribable indo- 
lence is on everything and everybody. 

After we had been at Tangier a few days, the Germans, of whom 
I have spoken, organized a company to go to other parts of the 
empire. They invited me to go with them, and Mr. Goodspeed having 
business on his hands, and not being able to give me his attention, I 
was glad to accept. A government escort war^ provided us, and one 



IN MOROCCO. 



25 



morning we drove out of Tangier, mounted on the most sorry-looking 
set of horses that were ever brought into one lot. Some were lean 
and lank ; others were minus mane and tail ; others were scrubby 
little things that looked as if they would break down under the weight 




THE INTERIOR. 

of a full-grown man. But they had the merit of speed. Bad as they 
looked, " the go " was in them, and when we capered, cantered, trotted, 
raced out of Tangier, a hooting, yelling crowd of boys and men ran 
along with us, bidding us a kindly though boisterous adieu. 



26 RJP VAM WINKLE'S TRAVELS. 

Fez. 

Well, Fez — what of Fez? Our caravan, which had become quite 
a formidable company, went into Fez just at night, after a journey of 
thrilling adventures and exciting incidents. When we came within 
sight of the walls of the city, we received a friendly greeting. It 
seemed as if the whole place had turned out to welcome us, and we 
entered in the midst of the most unintelligible tumult. The view of 
Fez from a distance is very fine. The walls are seen to great 
advantage, and above them the towers, monuments, and tall trees rise 
in striking beauty. But on entering the gates, the city appears 
dilapidated and broken to pieces, and an air of desolation is over 
everything. Once elegant Moorish palaces are in a sad state of 
decay. 

The public buildings are poor, though there are some wortlw of 
inspection. The mosques of El-Cavuin and Muley-Edrio are impos- 
ing externally, and said to be gorgeous internally, though we were 
not allowed to enter there. The Hebrew synagogue is also a prom- 
inent building, situated in the Jews' quarter, for in every great city the 
Hebrews, that wonderful people, find lodgment. The bazaars and 
shops are similar to those in other African cities. The merchant sits 
surrounded with his wares, looking as if he did not care whether he 
sold or not. But to a stranger these shops in the narrow streets are 
very attractive, and the grotesqueness of the arrangements only 
enhances the interest. 

There is at Fez a University, — House of Science, as it is called, 
and the city was in former days quite an important seat of learning. 
The Emperor of Morocco has three residences, and this is one of them. 
and he spends about one-third of his time here. When he is in the 
city the whole place is full of interest. Trade revives, and the people 
of surrounding sections come in to see the court parades and military 
processions. 

The manufacture of morocco, the red leather which has become so 



) 



IN MOROCCO. 



27 



famous, and which takes its name from the country, is carried on to a 
great extent here, and a large number of persons are engaged in it. 
Jewelry, saddlery, red woollen caps, and some other manufac- 
tures are carried on, but to no great extent. How the people get 




MODE OF TRANSPORTATION. 

a living it is hard to tell. However, the cost of living is very small. 
What would be expended by a New York clerk on his dinner 
would support a dozen of the Berbers or negroes of this place a 
whole week. 

The Wad-el-Jubor — River of Pearls — runs through the city^ 
dividing it into old and new, but the whole looks old enough to have 



28 R^P VAN WINKLE'S TRAVELS. 

survived the flood. The city is about eighty miles from Tangier. 
Between the two places are several towns, not worth stopping at by 
one who has not unlimited time at his command. 

Morocco. 

Our caravan — which has become a small army of cooks, porters, 
guides, grooms, and all sorts of servant travellers — started from Fez 
on one sultry morning, and slowly moved toward the capital of the 
empire, and after several nights of camping and several days of riding 
saw the walls of the city standing on the plain. These walls are six 
miles in circumference. They are built of lime and earth, ground 
into a cement. There are square towers rising, one hundred and 
fifty feet apart. There are eleven gates piercing these walls, and at 
most of them crowds are going out and coming in all the time.. 
Morocco is not a brilliant capital of an empire. The houses are gen- 
erally of one story, with flat roofs. The streets are narrow and dark, 
and one shudders to go through them after sundown. Things look a 
little better when you get into the houses. The apartments generally 
surround a court, in the centre of which is a fountain or some piece 
of statuary. The rooms are finished elaborately, and but for the 
dilapidated state of everything, some of them would have the appear- 
ance of elegance. Rich carvings are found in many of the houses, 
showing a style of finish which belonged to earlier and better days. 

The emperor's palace is outside the walls, and the grounds are very 
extensive, and are kept in very good order. While not comparable 
with many of the royal gardens of Europe, they are quite beautiful. 
To some parts of the extensive grounds travellers are admitted, and 
Europeans receive as much attention from the oflficials as if they were 
distinguished citizens. When disgusted with the confusion, heat, and 
indistinguishable smells of the city, it was a real luxury to get outside 
the walls and revel in the purity and sweetness of the royal gardens. 
It is also the best place to see the royal family and oflScers of state, 
and distinguished guests who are in attendance on the court. The 



/A' MOROCCO. 



29 



palace itself is not remarkable, and many a hotel at home would far 
surpass it in splendor. You are tired, doubtless, of hearing about 
mosques and public buildings, and these I will say nothing about. 




COSTUMES IN MOROCCO. 



The population is what you would naturally expect from a conglom- 
eration of people of all colors mingled together in uneducated and 
unrefined masses, where the brute life often appears to prevail over 
the human. 



OQ RIP VAN WINKLE'S TRAVELS. 

PJOGADORE. 

After seeing Morocco, our caravan started again, and travelled 
one hundred and twenty miles, and reached Mogadore after six days. 
Turn to your maps, boys. The town is on the Atlantic sea-coast, and 
to reach it w^e have travelled through some of the wildest and rough- 
est scenes in the empire of Morocco. It is one of the most important 
seaports in the country, though the population is scarcely twenty 
thousand. Ostrich feathers, gum, hides, almonds, wool, and several 
other articles are shipped from here in great abundance. The place 
has suffered much from the fortunes of war. The French took it in 
1844, and the marks of the severe bombardment are still seen. 

On our way here we had a fine opportunity to see the people in 
the villages, and the field hands getting in the produce of the earth, 
the half-clad negroes carrying on their heads or shoulders burdens 
that might weary a horse. 

At this place I shall part with the Germans who have composed 
the caravan. They will push southward along the coast, while I shall 
sail for Tangier to meet Mr. Goodspeed. I shall not be sorry to be 
out of Morocco, though the other countries I have to visit may not 
furnish any better entertainment. Since we have been here we had 
wild experiences, of which I will speak to you after my return. 
Mogadore will hold me only long enough to find a vessel to take me 
out. There is less of the negro element than in Morocco, though the 
blacks are well represented. The population is mainly divided into 
Moors and Jews. These two classes inhabit different sections of the 
town. The citadel part is occupied by the former, and the lower part 
by the latter. Population divides itself in nearly the same way in all 
the towns and cities that we have seen. The Jews attend to the 
banking, the Moors to the manufacturing, and the negroes to the 
drudgery. The negro is used for almost everything chat requires hard 
labor, even to lugging passengers on their shoulders across the little 
rivers, and one or two rides of that kind I have had. On or«c occasion 



-cr'*i'' • 



"'>" 







FRUIT GATHERERS AT RIO. 



32 



RJP VAN WINKLE'S TRAVELS. 



while I was out hunting with a negro guide, the tide came in, and as 
usual at high water, surrounded Mogadore, the town being on a 
plateau, surrounded with marshes. The only way for me to get back 
was to wade, and my black guide taking me on his shoulderSj put 
me through, as nicely as a horse could have done. It was a curious 
kind of riding, and the animal seemed to enjoy the sport as much as 
his rider. Once or twice, when he came near dumping me into 
water, he indulged in an immoderate laugh of satisfaction. 

Rip Van Winkle. 



IN ALGERIA 



n 



IN ALGERIA. 




ON A LITTER. 



Rip Van Winkle remained at Mogadore some time longer than 
he expected to have done, on account of circumstances which he will 
detail in his next letter, and when he set sail he was devoutly 
grateful to the kind providence which had enabled him to obtain a 
glimpse of the empire of Morocco and get out safely in spite of 
experiences with bandits, with an unhealthy climate, with jungle 
adventures, and all the annoyances one meets in a country which is 



3-1 RIP VAN WINKLE'S TRAVELS. 

separated from the arts and culture of Europe, only by a narrow strait, 
v^hich is easily crossed, but which, as far as the civilization of Morocco 
is concerned, might as well be as deep and as wide as the Atlantic 
Ocean. 

Algiers. 

From a boy the name of Algiers has been a terror to me. In my 
earl}' days it was associated in my mind with atrocious piracies that 
made the world shudder. Previous to 1815, when Commodore 
Decatur destroyed an Algerine fleet, and, sailing into this harbor, 
forced the dey to surrender all American prisoners found in his dun- 
geons, Algiers was noted for the extent of its piratical operations. 
Then, in 1816, England took it up, and a British fleet, under Lord 
Exmouth, bombarded the city. Then the French sent a fleet to do 
mischief, and that great power arrayed itself against the piracy of the 
Algerines, which had become so notorious that the name of Algiers 
was hated throughout the commercial world. But Algerine piracy 
has been suppressed. The sea is no longer molested by the clipper 
ships, bearing the black flag or the skull and cross-bones, and Algiers 
is so thoroughly under French control, that life is nearly as safe as in 
Paris. 

Before speaking of this city and country, I will tell you how T got 
away from Mogadore. The German caravan left me at the inn, 
and at once I set about finding a vessel bound for Tangier. But no 
one offering itself, I determined to have a few days of sport in the 
interior. It was somewhat hazardous, but selecting a fine, comely 
black, named Hassan, I started out one morning, to be gone two or 
three days. The shooting was good, and the game plenty, and 
everything went well until the second day, when at noon, while 
taking our dinner, Hassan leaped wildly to his feet, exclaiming, 
^^Lion! lion!" and betook himself to the nearest tree. I did the 
same thing, and soon both of us felt ashamed of our flight, for nothing 
appeared but a wild boar, who went tramping along at a rearing 



IN ALGERIA. 



35 



rate. Seeing what it was, and anxious to get a shot at the animal, 1 
ieaoed from the tree, and in my descent fell somewhat unfortunately, 
and sprained my ankle, and it caused me great pain. Hassan got me 
to the hut of a native, which was not far away, but by the time I 
reached the hut the ankle was badly 
swollen, and the kind and faithful fel- 
low, with the assistance of the proprietor 
of the hut, was obliged to cut away my 
boot and apply cooling lotions to the 
inflammation; but in spite of all they 
could do, and my own determination, I 
was obliged to go to bed and stay there 
two or three days. The negro who 
owned the hut gave me up the only bed 
he had, which was a clean one, over- 
hung by a sort of rude canopy of his 
own manufacture. The hut contained 
little beside the bed and a chest, and 
the only occupant until our arrival was 
the negro, who kept a pet goat, that had 
free access to the hut, and who as soon 
as it saw me on its master's bed became 
my constant attendant, refusing to leave 
me for an hour. It was a noble crea- 
ture, seeming to have the instincts of a 
human being. It hung around me, sprang upon the bed, lapped my 
hands, and seemed to manifest a reasoning fondness. 

Wishing to get to town as soon as possible, Hassan formed a 
litter, and securing a couple of negroes, I was borne back, while the 
guide kept by my side, through the swamps and bushes, where the 
way was almost impassable. 

Soon after, I found a coasting vessel bound for Tangier, and took 




HASSAN. 



36 



RIP VAN WINKLE'S TRAVELS. 



passage. We stopped a few hours at each of several little seaport 
towns, for which I was glad, as it gave me an opportunity to go 
ashore and see more of the country. At Asamar, Rabuat, Mehedia, 
and other places, we put in, but soon put out again, and in due time 
arrived at Tangier, where I found Mr. Goodspeed, and he being 
ready to start, we shipped at once for this port, where we now are. 



^^. "^';, 




t''-^~^f/''''?t~'^-^~ 



LAID UP IN THE HUT. 



Algiers is fineiy situated on the bay, and the buildings form an 
amphitheatre. It is a walled city, and is the capital of the country, 
Being the headquarters of French power in Algiers, the European 
population is large, and there is a " Frenchiness " not seen anywhere 
else in the country. The hotels are fair, the mosques elegant, the 
government houses, bank, and cathedral respectable buildings. There 



IN ALGERIA. 



37 



are several colleges, a bishop's house, and the usual accompaniments 
of such a city. There is much of the appearance of a European city 
Steamers ply from this to several other ports, and the constant coming 
and going of vessels makes the place very lively. 

Mr. Goodspeed having finished his business here, we discussed 
the propriety of going further into the country. One day we ap- 
proached our landlord, a Frenchman, who had long lived here, and 
my friend said to him, — 

"Would it be worth our while to visit Constantia? " 

"Constantia?" 

''Yes." 

"What you want to know about Constantia?" 

"Whether it would be wise for us to go there.'* '* 

" Ouir 

"That is, would we sec enough to pay us for so long a journey? " 

" Oui. Constantia is a much fine city. I know all about him." 

" How large a place ? " 

" Very large, " stretching his arms apart. 

" But how many inhabitants? " 

" Inhabitants ? " 

"Yes; how many people? " 

" Oui^ ze peoples much; thirty thousand of him." 

" Had we better go there ? " 

"No go, bad place; bad peoples in the woods — very far off." 

"How far?" 

" One hundred miles you call him, and fifty, sixty, seventy, eiglry 



more. " 



"One hundred and eighty miles?" 

" Ouir 

"How about Bona?" 

" No good! No good ! " 

"OrOran?" 



38 



RIP VAN WIAKLE'S TRAVELS. 



"You no go to any place. You stay here; you be safe. When 
you want to go, you go to the ship. No go to ze peoples." 

And on many accounts we concluded that it was not safe to 
venture into the country. First, there is little to see. There is a 
remarkable sameness in all the negro villages, and the inland cities 
and towns are devoid of special interest. Then it is not quite safe to 
be about among the inhabitants of the interior. The quarrels among 
themselves, the jealousy of strangers, and the general character of the 
people, makes travelling anywhere but in the most public places 
somewhat hazardous. On these accounts we concluded to make a 
hasty visit, and take an early departure. 

Rip Van Winkle. 



IN TUNIS AND TRIPOLI 



3') 



IN TUNIS AND TRIPOLI. 




NATIVES BUILDING A HUT. 



One morning a steamer landed a dozen passengers in the harbor 

of Tunis, the capital of the Regency of the same name, and among 

them were Rip Van Winkle and Mr. Goodspeed, both of whom had 

had quite enough of the Algerines. How they fared in Tunis will be 

told by the Master. 

Tunis. 

After a wakeful night we landed in the chief city of Tunis, glad to 

get out of the steamer which took us from Algiers. I think, boys, 

you will not blame me for not getting reconciled to some of the 

annoyances we meet on the little steamboats that ply along the 

northern coast of Africa. They generally run in the night, and stop 

and load or unload by day. To sleep is impossible, for we have 



40 



RIP VAN WINKLE'S TRAVELS. 



strange bed-fellows. They are such as Dean Swift alludes to in a 
ctanza of his ^ — 

" So, naturalists observe, a flea 
Has smaller fleas that on him prey ; 
And these have smaller still to bite 'em ; 
And so proceed qd infinitum." 

Jonathan must have been a passenger on one of these boats at 
some time. As we approached the city, it presented a very fine ap* 
pearance, and looked as if a great deal of comfort might be found in 
it. But it has the narrow streets, the low rude houses, the squalid 
poverty, the filthy habits, and the treacherous manners of Algiers. 

The city, which has nearly two hundred thousand inhabitants, is 
surrounded by a double wall, and defended by a strong fortification. 
There are a plenty of mosques, a Moorish college, one or two theatres, 
some public baths, with manufactories of cotton, linen, and woollen 
goods. The place has great antiquity, and has had a singular history. 
Like Carthage, whose ancient site is not far off, it traces its record 
back to a very remote period. 

Perhaps, boys, you imagine that I am in a country of sultry heat, 
but in this you are mistaken. The temperature of Tunis in winter 
averages 55° and in summer only 85°, while the mean of the year is 
70°. So you see the people of the sea coast have a delightful climate. 
But when 3^ou go into the interior, and approach the great desert 
which begins within a short distance of the sea, you find the heat 
more intense. 

While at Tunis we went out on two or three occasions to hunt. 
Before we started, the residents told us that we should find plenty of 
lions, wild horses, panthv-^rs, and wolves to shoot. To tell the truth 
we did not care much to see the panthers and lions, and did not. If 
there were any of these inhabitants of the forests they did not trouble 
us. We got upon the track of two or three wolves, but our inexperi- 
ence in hunting allowed them to get out of our way. So I shall 



IN TUNIS AND TRIPOLI. 



41 



not be able to bring home a stuffed lion, as a present to the Triangle. 
We did, however, do some deer and antelope shooting, and took back 
with us some specimens which v/ould have made a show in Washing- 
ton market if they could 
have been hung there, 
with the inscription, 
'^ Shot in Tunis, by Rip 
Van Winkle." 

The old Roman 
ruins we did not feel it 
safe to visit. The bar- 
barous people murder 
and rot any unprotect- 
ed stranger that comes 
to see their country, and 
unless a large guard is 
ODtained, no one knows, 
when he leaves Tunis, 
how he will get back. 
Though we did not go 
far away, we had some 
rough adventures, and 
one night, while stop- 
ping in a hut in the 
woods, were surround- 
ed by the wild Arabs, 
and should have been 
robbed if not killed, 
had we not made a vigorous demonstration with our firearms, by 
which the barbarians were frightened away, supposing w-e were 
more numerous anc -*^ter armed than we were. 




INTERIOR OF HOUSE. 



42 



:UP VAN IVIAKLE'S TRAVELS. 




our victims. 

Tripoli. 

Coming along the coast we reached this cit}^, the capital of the 
province of the same name. Like Algiers, Tripoli has been famous in 
ages past for its piracy. One of its governors, Dragut, somewhere 
about the year 1550, was a noted corsair, and, under his rule, the State 
became the headquarters of the worst class of men who ever sailed 
upon the ocean. The ships of no nation were safe. The commerce 
of all nations was at the mercy of these lawless depredators, who 
became so bold and defiant that they were hated in every civilized land. 
This state of things lasted from the time of Dragut to the year 18 16, 
when the British compelled the Tripolitans to abandon their infamous 
practices upon the high seas. Thanks to war steamers, pirates have 
little chance in our times. 

The city of Tripoli is an uninteresting place. The houses are low, 
generally of one story, with flat roofs. The streets are narrow and 
filthy, the inhabitants boisterous and treacherous, and the customs and 




'V:.^ 



- Jjh/isy^%(5^ 



A LADY OF CEYLON. 



A A , RIP VAN WINKLE'S TRAVELS. 

manners of the foreign merchants are little calculated to make the 

place attractive. 

The caravansary at vv^hich we are stopping, though small, is neatly 
kept. The head of the house is a woman oi fine appearance. Only 
once have we seen her. Her servants are mostly men, but she rules 
them well. She is an illustration of the value of brains. On one 
occasion one of the table waiters became insolent, and refused to fill 
our orders or answer our calls. We appealed to the head of the 
house, expecting to see a man, to whom we could state our grievance, 
but we were indeed surprised to find ourselves confronted by an 
elegantly dressed lady, who conversed fluently in English and who 
received us with as much dignity as could the Queen of England. 
On stating our case, her eyes flashed, her hands were brought impres- 
sively together, and the offender was sent for. On his appearance she 
showered upon him a torrent of angry words, under which the fellow, 
whom now we began to pity, stood cowering with shame and fright. 
Assuring us that the oflfence should not be repeated she dismissed us, 
and ordered the fellow to the stables, where he was kept in disgrace 
until after we left. He did not appear in the dining-room during our 
stay in the place. We made several excursions out into the country, 
when it was safe and pleasant to go, and saw something of the rural 
districts, impressed every moment with the immense failure of Euro- 
pean civilization to penetrate into Africa. The moment we left the 
seaport towns all traces of European institutions vanished, and we 
were thrown back into the blackness of barbarism. 

Rip Van Winkle. 



IN ALEXANDRIA. 



45 



IN ALEXANDRIA. 




WINDOW OF THE HAREM. 



In a steamer running from Tripoli to Alexandria, Rip Van Win- 
kle and his fellow-traveller took passage, and early one morning 
reached the latter port, where they were to spend a few days and 
then part company. The merchant was to return to Europe, whiJe 
the master was not quite decided which way to go. He had plenty 
of time on his hands, was not pushed for funds, and could take things 
as he pleased, and he was prepared to go in such directions as wouid 
give him the best facilities for seeing the world and acquiring 
information. 



Af^ RIP VAN WINKLE'S TRAVELS. 

Alexandria. 

The Triangle will be glad to learn that I have got through with 
the Arabs, Bedouins, and negroes of Morocco, Algiers, and Tripoli, 
with no damage to my physical proportions. I have been in some 
tight places, but can honestly say that I never had " hair-breadth 
'scapes." In coming to countries of more interest to 3^ou, I shall be 
more specific in my details, and more full in my description, for I re- 
member how carefully you charged me to tell you all about Egypt, when 
I should reach that country. Well, I am here; and though I do not 
propose to remain long at the present time, I will give you all the 
particulars I can think of, or rather all that the limits of a letter will 
allow me to write about. While you are wearing furs and mufflers, 
and getting your sport in coasting, skating, sleighing, and frolick- 
ing in your youth among the frozen streams, falling snow, and 
drifting ice of New York, I am here in the intense heat of the dusty 
plains and arid deserts of Egypt. 

On approaching the coast you are conscious of a stifling heat, 
as from a furnace. In my own case, I awoke one morning, after a 
fearful voyage, and found the steamer lying still outside the harbor, 
and on going on deck, experienced sensations very much like that of 
a man who had put his head into a heated oven. The spars, rigging, 
and deck of the steamer were covered with a fine red dust from the 
desert, which had met us twenty miles away, and clung obstinately to 
every object on which it rested. The pilot who took us in was a 
native, and looked much better fitted for the arena of a circus, or the 
stage of a theatre, than for the wheel-house of a steamer. He had on 
loose, flowing trousers, a close-fitting red jacket, with black and gold 
braid ornamentation, while on his curly head rested a little jaunty cap, 
the whole forming an attire so novel and grotesque, that the stranger, 
up to that moment unfamiliar with the costumes of the country, was 
m doubt whether a man or woman had taken possession of the ship. 
Nimble as a cat, he ran about the vessel, chattering like a black- 




iiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiii^^ 



48 



RIP VAN WINKLE'S TRAVELS. 



bird, in an unknown tongue, until, safely through the narrow passages 
and dangerous straits, he brought the steamer to her anchorage in 
front of the city. 

No sooner was the cable out than a hundred jabbering Arabs 
sprung on board from light feluccas, in which they had come out from 
land. It seemed for a time as if we had got into Bedlam. These 
invaders all talked at once in their strange accents, gesticulated 
to each other and to us, and everything was in confusion. Some 
were custom-house officers, some hotel proprietors, some mail agents, 
some were beggars, some were thieves, and a few were Alexandrian 
gentlemen and merchants who had come out to meet friends. The 
custom-house officers were overhauling our luggage. The hotel 
proprietors, with cards in hand, were recommending in unknown 
tongue their various public inns. The mail agents were pointing out 
their mail-bags. The beggars were following us about like spaniels, 
whining "backsheesh! backsheesh! " The thieves were on the alert 
to steal anything, from a silk handkerchief to a gold watch. Mer- 
chants, thieves, beggars, all looked alike in their red caps, loose 
garments, untrimmed beards, and unwashed faces. 

And there before us was Alexandria, with its domes, minarets, 
mosques and palaces.. »jtting like a queen on the shores of the great 
sea. 

The city of Alexandria, you know, is situated on the mouth of the 
Nile, and occupies a large place in history. In ancient times it vied 
with. Rome in military greatness; with Athens in literature, and with 
Tyre in commercial importance. Early in the history of the Church, 
Christianity was planted there by St. Mark, who organized the first 
congregation. Philosophy and science there found numerous and 
influential patrons, and the great library founded by Ptolemy Soter 
290 B.C. which numbered 500,000 volumes in an age when books were 
comparatively few, made Alexandria a place of great literary renown. 
From the time the city was founded by Alexander the Great 332 b.c» 



IN ALEXANDRIA. .^ 

for twelve centuries it was a place of immense wealth and extensive 
commerce, the great centre to which the trade of Europe and the 
Mediterranean with Persia and the distant East converged. But 
Time levelled its walls and War slaughtered its inhabitants. It in- 
curred the hostility of Rome, its military rival, and was again and 
again sacked by Caracalla, Aurelian and Diocletian. Its commerce 
drifted to other ports; its wealth aided to build up Constantinople; 
its power faded before superior races, and its ancient glory went to 
sad decay. The great temple of Serapis was destroyed by the 
Patriarch Theophilus, who left no vestige of its former splendor. The 
famous library was used by Caliph Omar to light the fires of his 
four hundred royal baths, the Saracen declaring, " If these Grecian 
books agree with the Koran they are useless, if not they should be 
destroyed." The population which once rivalled the London of 
to-day dwindled to a handful of wandering vagabonds. 

Mahomet AH endeavored to avert the ruin, and, by the revival of 
trade, the promotion of commerce, and the rebuilding of the port, 
made modern Alexandria a place of considerable activity. The pres- 
ent city has sixty thousand inhabitants, made up of all the nations of 
the earth. 

The first thing a traveller meets on landing in Alexandria, or in 
any other Egyptian city, is some adventure with the donkey-boys, a 
queer set of beings whose curious antics and strange gibberish lead 
us to query whether they belong to the monkey tribe or are real, 
thorough specimens of the genus homo. I had heard of them, and 
knew nearly what to expect, for all travellers have had about the 
same experience with them. As we set our feet on shore, we were 
attacked by almost a hundred of them in one solid rabble. They 
had been waiting the arrival of the steamer, ready for a cargo of new 
victims. They came rn like hungry wolves, shouting in all sorts of 
dialects, seizing our baggage, pulling our clothing, crowding us in 
one direction and pushing us in another, one urging us to ride his 



50 



RIP VAN WINKLE'S TRAVELS. 



donkey for this reason, and another for that; and one or two of our 
party who were men of small stature and light weight were actually 
lifted from their feet and mounted on the little frowzy animals, before 
they knew what the boys were doing with them. 

While in the midst of 
this hubbub, which was 
as unintelligible to us as a 
scene among the hackmen 
in a New York depot 
would be to a company 
of newly-landed Chinese, 
we espied, at a little dis- 
tance, a vehicle, half way 
between an old-fashioned 
baggage-wagon and a 
modern hearse, and with- 
out knowing, indeed 
hardly caring whether it 
went to the hotel or the 
graveyard, we sprang for 
it, hoping we should es- 
cape the annoyance. But 
we had a practical appli- 
cation of the old adage, 
" Out of the fr3ang-pan 
into the fire," for, though 
the donkey drivers fell back, a hungry pack of dragomen, or profes- 
sional guides, followed us, offering their services and stating their 
terms. They were ludicrously, alarmingly persistent. They filled 
the hearse until the crazy vehicle cracked and groaned beneath the 
burden. They climbed upon the outside and yelled over our shoul- 
ders. They gesticulated, screamed, howled, and made the whole 




KASTERN WATER SELLER. 



IN ALEXANDRIA. c\ 

way hideous. Each one had a bag of greasy recommendations given 
him by English or American travellers whom he had taken up the 
Nile, or piloted through Syria. Some of these papers denounced the 
bearers as worthless vagabonds, heartless liars, persistent cheats, and 
arrant knaves, but the fellows not being able to read had no idea 
of the impression made on us, as each one handed us his worn 
and soiled document, saying in triumph — ^^ Judge of my charac- 
ter." 

The omnibus fortunately took us to a fine hotel, conducted on 
European principles, where a traveller could be as well accommo- 
dated as in London or Paris. This hotel was situated on the grand 
square of Alexandria, and from its balconies in front fine views were 
obtained in all directions. On looking out of the windows, or from 
the porticos, the square is found, like our parks at home, to be filled 
with people. But, unlike our parks, the people are made up of all 
nationalities, and there appears a vast variety of costumes and colors, 
the Greek and the Turk, the Nubian and the Bedouin, the French- 
man from Paris, and the Arab from the desert, the Englishman from 
the banks of the Thames, and the Abyssinian from the upper Nile! 
Each has his own peculiar costume. The Egyptians are clad mostly 
in the flowing Oriental garb, var34ng from a mere white cloth around 
the body, leaving the major part of the person exposed, to the full 
Turkish or Egyptian suit, with its gay colors and fantastic dec- 
orations. 

Around the square of Alexandria, which to the natives is what the 
Common is to Boston, are the consulates of the various nations, and 
waving over them are the distinctive flags, showing where the ac- 
credited representive of each foreign government can be found. 
There were the tricolors of France flapping lazily in the sun, repre- 
senting yesterday a kingdom, to-day a republic, to-morrow an empire. 
There was the Union Jack, the royal ensign of Great Britain, on 
whose proud possessions the sun never goes down. There was the 



S2 



RIP VAN WINKLE'S TRAVELS. 



crimson Crescent of Turkey, symbol of the waning Ottoman. And 
there, too, were the Stars and Stripes. 

I shall never forget the emotions with which I looked on that 
beautiful flag, which so recently in our own country was in peril. 
It is worth a voyage to Europe, to feel as every patriot must feel 
when looking up to this standard of our country, waving in a foreign 
sky — the " Stars and Stripes," suggested as our national symbol 
by John Adams, adopted by Congress in 1777, and first in battle at the 
surrender of Burgoyne, and borne out upon the ocean by Paul Jones, 
from whose mast-head it first fluttered in a European port. At 
home we look upon it as a piece of holiday bunting, but waving 
in a foreign land, flapping against the thrones of kings, it is the 
emblem of self-government, constitutional liberty, and Demiocratic 
ideas and purposes, — the symbol of universal freedom and political 
equality. 

Beside the peculiarity of costume, and the adventures among the 
donkey boys, the traveller in Egypt is struck with several things 
which are so novel as to draw his attention, challenge his criticism, 
and provoke his mirth. 

The means of locomotion is one thing. There are few horses, 
fewer carriages, but innumerable donkeys. Little children, sometimes 
five or six of them on one beast, are seen; women with their faces 
covered, looking like ghosts, sitting on their knees in a most awk- 
ward way, go trotting along; fat portly men of aldermanic size 
amble through the streets looking as if they would break the legs of 
the little creatures, nothing of which can be discerned under the 
flowing robes of the rider but the ears and heels; now and then two 
boys appear, sitting back to back, one grasping the mane, the other 
clinging to what, in da3's gone by, used to be the tail of the creature, 
that seems to enjoy the fun as much as the}' do. The whole spec- 
tacle is so novel to an American, who is accustomed to ponderous 
street cars, heavy omnibuses, and stately vehicles, that his face is 



54 



RIP VAN WINKLE'S TRAVELS. 



constantly covered with a broad laugh. The ludicrousness of the 
whole thing would soon cure the most confirmed dyspeptic. 

Then one is struck with the blindness which prevails extensively. 
About one-third of the people seem to have some trouble with their 
eyes. It is distressing to see so much of this disease. Blind chil- 
dren, blind men, blind women, and even blind mules and donke3'S, 
are met in all directions. The cause of this blindness is found mainly 
in the filthy, wretched habits of the people. The children are actually 
covered, and literally eaten up, w^ith flies. It is not uncommon for 
a mother to carry her babe through the streets covered with these 
insects, without trymg to brush them off. 

Somehow the Egyptian fly has swifter motion, and a sharper 
sting than any other. However it may have been with the other 
plagues which were sent upon this hapless land in the days of Moses, 
the plague of flies still continues. To a stranger the insect is exceed- 
ingly troublesome, while the natives seem to consider it one of the 
luxuries of the climate. The question is sometimes asked, AVhat 
God made mosquitoes for? A man on the banks of the Nile asks 
with double emphasis. What the Egyptian fly was made for. 

It generally aims at the eye, strikes in at once, boring like a 
gimlet into the sufferer's flesh, and as you lift your hand to brush it off, 
you find its poisonous weapon so deeply embedded, that you kill the 
insect in dislodging it. The infection is carried from eyes that are 
diseased to those that are not, and thus they keep up a perpetual 
system of inoculation. 

Some say that a superstition among the people, that the fly is a 
sacred insect, prevents its destruction. Others say that mothers 
extinguish the right eye of the male child, that he may not be 
forced into the arm}'. But doubtless the real cause of the prevalent 
blindness is the utter filthiness of the children, and the inattention to 
personal cleanliness among adults. Dr. Smith, formerly mayor of 
Boston, who looked at the phenomenon as a medical man, thinks that 



IN ALEXANDRIA. 



55 



in addition to the uncleanliness of the people, the visual inability 
may come from wearing the turban and the tarboosh, there being no 
rim or visor to shade the eyes from the sun which, pouring on the 
heated sand, reflects the light with all the intensity of a mirror. 

Dr. Smith states — you may believe it or not — that an English 
lady told him that an opinion prevails in Egypt, that it is exceedingly 
disastrous to wash an infant until it is quite a year old, consequently 
from the hour they are born into the world, to the termination of 
twelve months — I quote his language — "the dirty brats are never 
washed." Whether this is true or not I cannot tell from actual 
observation, but of course it must be, coming from a lady; and 
certainly, I have seen children who looked as if they had not been 
washed for a dozen years, and who would take all the waters of the 
Nile to make them clean. 

But whatever may be the cause of the blindness, it is fearfully 
prevalent. Blind men stand in the streets, asking your charity on 
every corner; men blind of an eye look out at you from the little 
window of the shop where nicknacks and gimcracks are sold; 
the donkey boy, whose half blind beast you hire, is blind of an eye; 
his mother, who comes to help him out of the scrape into which you 
are sure to get with him when you settle for his services, is blind of an 
eye; his father, who comes to help his mother, is blind of an eye; 
the waiter at the hotel unfortunately has some trouble with his eyes; 
the landlord is obliged to shut one eye and squint dreadfully before he 
answers the honest question you ask him; and before you have been 
in Egypt a week, you find yourself asking your friends if there is not 
something the matter with your own eyes. 

The first night in Egypt is a tr3nng one. To say nothing of 
the fleas, which are monstrous in size and ferocious in disposition, 
the dogs and donkeys manage to prevent sleep. The dogs of 
Alexandria are very numerous, and go at large, a ferocious, half- 
starved race of creatures, looking more like wolves and jackals 



IN ALEXANDRIA. ry 

than common Jogs. They run in droves, and prey upon the flesh of 
horses and donkeys, or, perchance, upon some human being who falls 
dead or drunken in the street. At night, these savage creatures keep 
up a terrific howling and barking. One solitary dog will commence, 
and in a moment he will be joined by another, then another, until 
it seems as if forty thousand dogs were uniting in one prolonged 
canine chorus. At first you are amazed; then amused; then, as the 
howls come in, just like the parts in some modern fashionable church 
music, — tenor, soprano, contralto, bass, — each chasing the other 
through rhyme and measure, you are obliged to break out into a hearty 
laugh at the grotesque ideas which are suggested. 

The donkeys also make the night hideous. Almost every man, 
boy, and woman in Egypt keeps a donkey. The animal is sometimes 
tied in the street; sometimes left in the front entry with the door 
open; sometimes put into the spare room of the house; and some- 
times taken to bed with the owner, or rather the owner goes to 
bed with the donkey! You have just got asleep by dint of hard work, 
— stuffing the pillows in your ears to keep out the barking of the 
dogs, and counting a hundred backwards, to make you forget that 
a half million fleas have gone to bed with you, — when you start up, 
every sense awake, wondering what that noise could be, — thun- 
der, earthquake, or the hotel tumbling down. First one unearthly 
noise from one brutish throat, then another, and another, ten, twenty, 
a hundred of them, all in one deafening bra}'. 

While everything in Alexandria is novel and interesting, there are 
few special objects and these are soon seen. Pompey's Pillar outside 
the city, standing alone in its solitary pomp, ninety-nine feet high and 
thirty feet in circumference, is a real wonder. Of its origin, how it 
came here, with what instruments it was quarried, by what process it 
was raised to its present elevation, but little is known. ,An inscrip- 
tion, deciphered by Wilkinson, showing that it was erected by 
Publius, prefect of Egypt in honor of Diocletian, whose name it 



S8 



RIP VAA WINKLE'S TRAVELS, 



should bear instead of that of Pompey, is all the information that has 
come down to us. It is a striking object, a wonderful comrnert op 
the skill of the ancients, proving that they must have had machiner ■ 
which has been lost for nearly forty centuries. 

The shaft of the pillar, between the base and the elegantly 
wrought capital is seventy-three feet high, of polished red granite. 
A woman, looking as I have always supposed the " Witch of E idor " 
looked, was guarding it when I was there, to prevent any mutilations, 
for unless such things were guarded they would be chipped to pieces 
and carried away by the vandal hordes from Europe and America, 
whose antiquarian tastes are limited to the mutilation of works of art, 
and whose sacrilegious hands are used in despoiling the most venera- 
ble relics of antiquity. 

Cleopatra's Needles are two obelisks, one of which fell down, and 
was long almost entirely embedded in the earth, w^hence it Y/as 
removed to New York and now stands in Central Park. Though 
named for the wicked daughter of Ptolemy Auletes, they were erected 
iong before her times. The other obelisk has been removed to Lon- 
don, and stands on the banks of the Thames. It is seventy feet high, 
and covered with curious hierogl3'phics that prove that it was brought 
to Alexandria from the ancient temple of the sun at Heliopolis, and 
like Pompey's Pillar shows the grandeur of the ancient structures, and 
the skill of those by whom these shafts were quarried and setup. 

These few relics of the former glory of Alexandria are all that 
remain, and much of the present city is as tasteless and modern as are 
the new-fangled buildings in the mushroom cities of our Western 
States. 

Doubtless all these obelisks were once in the "Temple of the 
Sun. ' Whatever may have been their history since, or the nr.mes 
ihe}- now bear, they were once parts of the templed city, which ""/as 
•■he centre and glory of Egyptian worship. 

The traveller also finds some ancient catacombs, but the mum- 




POMPEY S PILLAR. 



5o R^P VAN WINKLE'S TRAVELS. 

mies have been removed — used for fuel or converted into an asrent 
for fertilization — the decorations destroyed, and the passages filled 
with filth and rubbish. The memory of the dead has been lost in the 
dust of ages; the generations, as they have marched by, have 
trampled down into utter oblivion even the names of those w^ho once 
reposed in these elegant receptacles of death. 

The funeral customs of the Eg3'ptians are very peculiar. Almost 
every morning we were awakened by the wailing mourners as they 
carried the corpse to the grave. When a person is about to die, in 
Egypt, they place him with his face toward Mecca, and let him 
expire looking toward the tomb of the Moslem prophet. When life 
is extinct they wrap the body in a shroud of cloth, — cotton if the 
man is poor, and silk if he is rich. White and green are the colors 
generally used; blue is expressly interdicted. A poor child is often 
carried to the grave in a box or tray on the head of a woman. A 
rich man's funeral procession will often have with it two or three 
camels loaded with simple articles of food, to be distributed among 
the spectators at the grave. 

I was awakened on the Sabbath morning after my arrival by a 
strange outcry in the street, and on looking out saw one of these 
vvnique funeral processions. First came about fifty men and boys 
with tin horns, rude drums, and unearthly sounding gongs, making a 
most hideous outcry. Next came a dozen venerable-looking men — 
priests, I suppose — repeating solemnly, " There is no god but God, 
and Mohammed is his prophet." Then followed a number of persons 
bearing the body on a bier. The corpse was draped in gay and 
showy colors, and the dashing turban of the deceased lay on the out- 
side. Immediately behind came a woman and two children. These 
I judged to be the wife and children of the departed. Following 
came from sixty to seventy aged men and women, hired for the occa- 
sion, wailing and moaning, throwing up their hands and venting their 
sorrow m the most piteous tones, — "O my father! O my mother! O 



IN ALEXANDRIA. 



6l 




GATHERING DATES. 



the sun! O the moon! O the stars! O the river!" — keeping up the 
horrible noise until the cortege of death was out of sight. 

But I have made this letter lengthy enough, and will affix to it the 
usual sifrnature. Rip Van Winkle. 



62 



RIP VAN WINKLE S TRA VELS, 



IN ASIA MINOR 




PALMYRA. 



At Alexandria, the master parted from Mr. Goodspeed and began 
to make inquiries for travelling parties. One day, while visiting the 
American Consul, he met a gentleman who introduced himself as a 
fellow-countryman, and said he made one of a party who in a few 
days would leave for Asia Minor, and gave Rip Van Winkle a press- 
ing invitation to go along with them. 

" Is not your party full ? " asked the master. 

«No." 

"How many are there? " 



IN ASIA MINOR 5^ 

" Three men and two boys, the latter, sont. of one of the gentle- 
men." 

"Are all Americans?" 

"Yes; one of the gentlemen is from New York, the other two 
with the boys are from Boston." 

" Well, if agreeable to them, I should be glad to join your party." 

" I know it will be agreeable, for we have been in quest of two 
or three more persons to go with us." 

"Then count me in." 

"We will do so, and it will give us pleasure to come and see you 
this evening." The master gave the name of his hotel, shook hands 
with his new friend, and went away to make arrangements for the trip. 

" I am in luck," he said to himself, as he reached his room. And 
so he was. The party with which he connected himself he was des- 
tined to find a most congenial one. At night they called upon him, 
made arrangements with him for the journey, and in a few days in 
the steamer Corso they were sailing for the Syrian coast. The master 
wrote : 

Smyrna. 

You will expect me to tell you how I got here, and why I came. 
Finding a pleasant party about to visit Asia Minor I cast in my lot 
with them, and on board the French steamer Corso, started from , 
Alexandria. We had been out two days when we sighted Jaffa. 
Though the voyage had been pleasant, the steamer being clean and 
the company agreeable, we were glad to see the coast again. The 
nearer I came to the places mentioned in Scripture the more intense 
became my interest and enthusiasm. Jaffa, you know, is celebrated 
as the home of Simon Peter, and Dorcas, and also as the port from 
which Jonah sailed on his perilous visit to Tarshish. It is one of the 
most ancient cities of Palestine, existing even before Jerusalem, and 
some say before the flood. It is picturesquely, and beautifully situa- 
ted on the shore of the blue Mediterranean. As we rode at anchor 



64 



RIP VAN WIiXKLE'S TRAVELS. 



outside we wondered whether the sights within the city would prove 
as beautiful as the place viewed from a distance, for looking upon the 




JAFFA, FROM THE NORTH. 



houses rising one above another, the turrets and minarets pointing 
to heaven in all directions, the view was a very pleasant one. But 
we were doomed to disappointment when we entered, and saw the 



IN ASIA MINOR. 



65 



town. The houses are clustered closely togethei on the hillside, 
street rises above street, and roof towers above roof, while here anO 
there are seen the tall palms waving their branches, green and slender, 
as if keeping guard with their long arms over the people below. But 
like many other things which look well at a distance Joppa (or Jaffa) 
is a most disgusting place to visit. The streets are narrow and filthy, 
the houses mean and squalid, and the people indolent and corrupt 
A feeling of intense disappointment comes over one who has gazed 
with admiration on the town from a distance, as he is obliged to pick 
his way amid filth and rubbish, seeing nothing to please, but every- 
ching to disgust him. 

Sending our dragoman to obtain some supplies we went on a tour 
of inspection through the town. Our first inquiry was for the home 
of Simon the tanner, which we knew to be in existence, but we 
might as well have inquired for the house that Jack built. Nobody 
knew anything about Simon the tanner. But by perseverance we 
discovered the place at length. It is near the sea. A part of the 
wall remains standing, the house having been carried away piece- 
meal, by those who wished to retain a relic of the structure. The 
locality shows that it has been used in ages past for a tannery, though 
the identity is somewhat doubtful. 

Not far from the house of Simon is the tomb of Tabitha. You all 
know that she v/as the founder of sewing-circles, a very excellent 
representative of that much-abused class of people known as " old 
maids." If she had been a married woman we probably should never 
have heard of her, but her fame is now in all the churches of Chri«:t. 
The houses in Jaffa are square stone or plaster buildings, with a fiat 
roof, one or two stories high. I climbed up to the top of one of them, 
and when there, did not wonder that the people in the evening were 
accustomed to assemble on the house-top, and that they made it \ 
place of devotion, and even a place for rest and sleep. The house!! 
within are filthy and gloomy, but on the top, Vv^ith a Syrian sky ove?> 



fi6 RIP VAN WINKLE'S TRAVELS. 

fcead, and the Mediterranean sea spread out in front, all was 
changed. Below us was the wreck of the house in which Simon the 
tanner once lived, and I thought of that remarkable vision Peter, his 
j^uest, had on that roof, in which he saw a sheet let down from heaven, 
"^ filled with all manner of four-footed beasts of the earth, and wild 
beasts, and creeping things, and fowls of the air." I thought of 
Tabitha, or Dorcas, as Luke calls her, who, when she lay dead, was a 
theme of wonder and praise on the lips of all the women, who wept, 
* and showed the garments which Dorcas had made." I thought 
)f that miracle performed by Peter, in which that good woman was 
recalled to life. I thought that, perhaps, eighteen hundred years ago, 
that same house where I then was might have been occupied by 
some Christian family, who came up at evening and looked upon the 
sea. 

As our steamer was to stop a day or two at Jaffa, v/e concluded to 
ride inland as far as the town of Ramlah. We started in the 
afternoon, and our dragoman procured a number of horses for us. 
They were creatures of all sorts, with wretched saddles and worse 
bridles. Those who were good horsemen and accustomed to 
equestrian exercises, at once selected the best animals. It did not 
matter what kind of a beast I had. I had ridden camels, donkeys, 
gnd cows since I had been in the East, and had "done some horse- 
manship," but up to the time I left home I had seldom been on 
the back of a horse. Only a year ago I tumbled one horse down 
when half way up Mount Vesuvius, and it did not make much 
ditierence with me what kind of an animal I had. So after the 
others had made their selection, I took the creature that was left, 
and a sorry animal he was! The hair had come off in a dozen 
oiaces, leaving him half bare. The saddle looked as if the rats had 
been gnawing off its covering, while the bridle was half leather 
and half cord. Well, I was going to Ramlah, and that was the only 
-ay to get there, so I mounted the nag. By touching the reins, and 



68 



RIP VAX IVIXKLE'S TRAVELS. 



shouting "ge lang" at the top of my voice, I was able to get him into a 
dog-trot. 

The day was fine, and we rode through an interesting country , 
olive-tree^ and immense cactus plants shaded the road. Our way lay 
across the plain of Sharon, and the narcissus, the orange blossom^ and 
the wild rose grew rank along the way, reminding us of the time 
when the whole plain, now sandy and desert, bloomed as the garden 
of God. We passed Gezer, a city formerly of note, of which Horam, 




LYDDA. 



who was conquered and killed by Joshua, was king; then through the 
desert of Beth Dagon to Ludd, called in the New Testament Lydda, 
w^hich is about nine miles from Jaffa. It is still a considerable place, 
and the ruins of a church built by the Crusaders are so conspicuous, 
that no traveller riding over the plain fails to stop and gaze about him. 
St. George, the patron saint of England, was born and buried here. 
The common story of this saint is that he was a soldier in the army 
of Diocletian, and suffered martyrdom for the gospel. Edward III. 




PLOUGHING IN PALESTINE. 



70 



RIP VAN WINKLE'S TRAVELS. 



made him the tutelar saint of English chivalry. It was at Lydda that 
Peter healed the poor paral3-tic Eneas, who had been bed-ridden 
eight years. As we paused there that day, where centuries ago the 
miracle was wrought, we could seem to hear the stern voice of the 
Galilean fisherman, — " Eneas, Jesus Christ maketh thee whole." 

The ride of a few miles brought us to Ramlah, where we 
were to spend the night. Our baggage and tents having been left in 
the steamer, our dragomen quartered us in a convent, where we were 
made as comfortable as could be expected. The approach to this 
monkish abode was through a narrow road a mile in length, com- 
pletely overgrown and shaded by the cactus or prickly pear, which 
grows to immense size. The plant was in full bloom, and its great 
clusters of flowers hung down to our heads as we rode on beneatli 
them. Through the huge arms of the giant plant, we could see 
the orange trees in all their beauty, and down through the interlaced 
foliage shone the beams of the setting sun. 

On reaching the convent we were shown about the place, and 
introduced to the monks, who seemed to be a jolly good-natured set 
of fellows, who take life less drearily than many persons suppose. A 
table was set for us, supper served, the ghostly fathers making them- 
selves as handy as the servants in a hotel. At night I was put into a 
cell, with cold stone floor and walls, a more dreary prison-like place 
than I ever slept in before. However, I was not at all lonely, for 
besides one of my friends, who was in the same room, I had the com- 
pany of Innumerable mosquitos that all night long kept buzzing, and 
innumerable fleas which all night long kept biting. The bed was 
well enough, what there was of it! It was made for a very small 
monk, and I am quite a large person. The night was cold, and in vain 
I tried to make the scanty coverlid reach around me. My friend in 
^Q other bed was a man of very different turn of mind from myself. 
He seldom saw the ludicrous side of anything. In the night he 
,Woke. The sombre shadows, the stone walls, the barred windows, 



IN ASIA MINOR. 



71 




TOWER OF RAMLAH. 



all produced in him a feeling of awe, and thinking I might be in the 
same mental mood, he asked if I was awake, and on receiving an 
affirmative reply, asked gravely what text I should use if turned sud- 
denly from a pedagogue into a preacher at that impressive hour. At 



72 



RIP VAN WINKLE'S TRAVELS. 



the risk of dissipating his solemnity I was obliged to declare that 
there was but one passage in the Bible that I thought any preacher 
could preach from that night — that verse in the book of Isaiah — 
" For the bed is shorter than that a man can stretch himself on it; 
and the covering narrower than that he can wrap himself \u it." 

Early in the morning we rode back to Jaffa, and found the 
steamer with steam up, and all ready to start, and in an hour after we 
got on board and were on our way again. 

At Tyre we again anchored — ancient Tyre! What its origin was, 
none can tell, for it is so remote that it is lost to view. We know 
that Isaiah mentions it as a great city in his time, and Josephus informs 
us that it was in existence B.C. 125 1 years, and Joshua speaks of it as a 
a strong city two hundred years earlier than that. For a time it was 
the great commercial city of the world. A complete description of it is 
found in the twenty-seventh chapter of Ezekiel. From secular history 
we learn that the inspired description is exact and literal. There were 
two ports, and they were closed at night by chains being put across 
the mouth. The population at times was very large, — all engaged 
in commerce. The modern town has but four hundred inhab- 
itants, and though advantageously located it no more deserves its 
ancient name — mistress of the sea. Of ancient Tyre little remains. 
The ruins of an old temple 216 feet long and 136 feet broad, at the 
dedication of which Eusebius preached, and beneath which rest the 
remains of Origen and Frederick Barbarossa, with some other frag- 
ments, are all that is left. The commerce of Tyre is confined to a 
few fishing boats, and the beauty of Tyre has been cast into the sea. 

We next came to anchor in front of Sidon, but only long enough 
to throw out some mail bags and discharge a little freight, and we 
were off again, but we had an excellent sea view of the town. 

Soon Beirut was in sight, and we had the pleasure of looking 
about the great seaport of Syria for some time. The night had been 
stormy, and with great pleasure we landed and were received by 



74 



RIP VAN WINKLE'S TRA VELS. 



the American consul and his wife, whom we recognized as old 
friends. The city has many attractions and seems very much like a 
European city. Whether you approach it from sea or land, the view 
is charming. Randall says that the city " contains at least 50,000 
inhabitants, of whom about one-third are Mohammedans. There are 
usually strangers in the city, drawn here for commerce and travel. 
Many Europeans are settled here, and many European houses adorn 
the town, and European costumes meet the eye. A large body of 
French soldiers are now stationed here, the avowed object being the 
protection of the Christians of the'surrounding country from the hos- 
tility of the Druses. It is a place of considerable commerce, and 
large quantities of raw silk are among its exports. The city stands 
upon quite a promontory, and is most beautifully situated. The old 
portion of it is densely built, close upon the sea-shore, the streets nar- 
row, crooked, and badly paved. The houses are mostly of stone, 
substantially built, and have a neat and comfortable appearance. 
There are many beautiful villas in the suburbs, embowered in groves 
of mulberry; in fact, the whole country about, as one says, is rapidly 
becoming one vast mulberry plantation. As you ascend to the upper 
parts of the town the view becomes magnificent, embracing the Bay 
of St. George, the distant expanse of the blue sea stretching away in 
the distance till it blends with the horizon; the heights of Lebanon, 
rising tier above tier, until, in the far distance, their heads are pin- 
nacled in the clouds, and their ^ snowy scalps ' glisten in the sunlight. 
I have seldom looked upon a more extensive, sublime and enchanting 
landscape than meets the view from the heights of the town back of 
Beirut." 

At Beirut we joined a party of gentlemen who were going to 
Asia Minor. Some of them were Americans and others were English. 
Ten of us agreed to go together. The party, before we joined it, had 
procured servants, dragomen, and guides sufficient for the wants of 
a much lars^er party. We were loth to leave Beirut, having found it 



76 



RIP VAN WINKLE'S TRAVELS. 



a very attractive city. The jew^elry sellers, the tobacco venders, the 
hot-coffee boys, the flower dealers, make the streets busy at all hours 
of the day. Men and women riding about on donkeys presented a 
novel sight, and the days we were here were filled with incidents of 
a most pleasant character. Only because we could have the company 

^;,, of a large party, and the services of 

^^^ their dragomen, did we go so soon. 

^^■ - After leaving Beirut, we came 

;" - — ^ ■„ to the Island of C3^prus, a beauti- 
-1^=^ ful spot in the Mediterranean sea. 
'^S. Lavnica, its chief town, contains a 
. ^^S. small population, and has an Amer- 
ican consul, who was very civil to 
us. Here two of us — the Bos- 
tonians — were taken with peculiar 
notions. You know Cyprus is 
famed for its wines. The grape 
vintages are very large, and the 
manufacture of the sparkling fluid 
is very extensive. A man landing 
at Cyprus is supposed to be a wine 
merchant, and he will find at the 
landing, and at the hotels, drum- 
mers who are on hand to show 
him where the best wines are sold at the lowest price. 

The common Cyprus wines taste like rain water that has been 
standing on tar. But as it is somewhat famous, and very cheap, two 
of our number determined to buy wnne. So they began tasting, tast- 
ing, trying the stuff, and when they had tasted and experimented, 
made their purchase. Well, whether it had any connection with the 
wine or not, I cannot tell, but the same two men, after buying their 
wine, concluded to buy a couple of donkeys. Whether they would 




TOBACCO CUTTING. 



IN ASIA MINOR. 



77 



ever have thought of the donkeys if it had not been for the wine, 
I cannot tell, but certain I am, that "wine the mocker " and " donkey 
the kicker " were both contracted for in Cyprus. I asked our friends 
to let me exhibit the animals when I returned home, to illustrate 
the productions of Cyprus, 
but they thought there were 
American donkeys enough, 
without introducing any of 
foreign breed. 

Our next stop was at 
Rhodes, famous for its brazen 
Colossus, which stood at the 
entrance of the harbor. It was 
a statue to Apollo, and was one 
hundred and five feet high, 
hollow, and with a winding 
staircase to the head, from 
which a view of Asia Minor 
was obtained. It cost about 
three hundred and twenty 
thousand dollars. It stood 
many years and was shaken 
down by an earthquake. The 
metal weighed eight hundred 
thousand pounds, after lying on the ground nine hundred years. 
Of course the Colossus was gone, but a beautiful town we saw from 
the deck of our steamer as we rode at anchor for an hour in the har- 
bor. The name of Rhodes is derived from the number of roses that 
grow there, the whole island being a perfect bouquet at some seasons 
of the year. 

The day after we left Rhodes, we passed Patmos, a rock 
about sixteen miles in circumference, to which the beloved John 




FLOWERMAN. 



78 



RIP VAN WINKLE'S TRAVELS. 



was banished by the cruel order of Domltian. It looks like a 
prison, its steep cliffs rising out of the waters of the Egean sea, 
like the palisades of a vast dungeon. On account of its solitary, 
dungeon-like aspect, the Romans used it as a prison for convicted 
criminals. It was the bastile of the Egean, but has become a sacred 
locality by being made the .scene of that prophetic book, which 
bears the stamp of inspiration in every line. 

The next morning w^e were anchored in the harbor of Sm3Tna, 
called by the ancients the " Crown of Ionia," where we were to spend 
several days. It is a Turkish city, beautifully situated on the side of a 
hill, which from the water seems to form a complete terrace to the top. 
We were soon on shore rambling about the place. What we saw may 
give you a better idea of the town than a particular description. 
After visiting the American consul we went and paid five francs 
for the privilege of looking over a few old papers, in hopes to find 
some American news, but as far as the papers we saw were concerned, 
no one could tell whether there was such a place as America. The 
shops in Smyrna are odd places, almost all out of doors. We were 
amused particularly with the eating-houses. A room in a house, 
all open in front, had a table or two in the rear, while all the cooking 
was done in front. Three or four cooks were busily engaged; one 
making coffee; another frying fish; a third roasting meat. The latter 
operation was altogether a new one. The fire was in a high perpen- 
dicular stove about as large as an eight-inch funnel. The meat was 
cut about table size, and put upon a piece of stick, making a long 
string of it. This the man turned round and round with his hands, 
keeping it as near the red hot stove as possible. As the meat dried he 
*vou]d taste it, and push it down, and when a customer came along he 
would take off a piece from the lower end of the stick, half done, or 
double done, as the case might be, and put on another raw piece at the 
top. There is an advantage to this, for every man sees his own 
'iinner cooked, and knows what he gets. 



IN ASIA MINOR. 



79 



I visited the slave market in Smyrna. The Christian sentiment 
even of Turkey has made open public slave auctions unpopular. So 
the slaves are kept in some old dilapidated house, and those who 
wish to purchase go there after them. There were about a dozen 
persons of each sex. The girls were coal-black Nubians, prettily 
dressed, covered with ornaments, and very tidy. The boys were a 
far better looking class than our free negroes. They all seemed 
anxious to be sold, and sat in the windows to display themselves most 
conspicuously to purchasers. I asked the man who had charge of 
them the price, and found that it ranged from $200 to $300. I did 
not buy any. 

We happened to be in Smyrna on one of the days when the der- 
vishes perform. These people live in convents like the Catholic 




SMYRNA. 

monks, and once or twice a week perform. They wear coarse robes, 
and go about the streets with bare heads, Veasts and feet. Some- 
times they go dressed in the skins of beasts, and beg or steal as they 
have opportunity. Some of our company went in on Friday to see 
them perform. The room of their convent in which they assemble, 
and admittance to which is secured by the payment of a small sum 
of money, is designed for this exercise. On a raised platform, or 
gallery, were the operators. Below, on the floor, were a number of 
mats, one richer than the rest. At the appointed hour the leader 
came in and took his seat on the richest mat, and soon he was fol- 
lowed by thirty dervishes, who gathered around him, and -reverently 
kissed his hand as they passed. Then they all knelt together, and 
the leader repeated in Arabic a sentence which they at once caught 



8o RIP VAN WINKLE'S TRAVELS. 

from his lips. This was repeated quickly, then more quickly, until iv 
became one broken cry. For about seven minutes they repeated it, 
swinging their bodies backward and forward as they knelt, with 
the utmost vehemence. At the end of seven minutes the words or 
rather sounds, for no words could be distinguished, were changed to 
another unintelligible sentence which they shouted for five minutes, 
with increased violence of sound, and the most vehement gesticula- 
tions. At the end of the five minutes their eyes began to roll, their 
features were distorted, and the peculiar trance symptoms began to 
appear. Then one voice began to sing a plaintive monotonous Arab 
song; at the end of the first verse they all arose, and joining hands, 
sang together. This finished they fell into lines, and advanced 
toward and retreated from each other, with a peculiar sort of a grunt 
which was most distressing. Then the motion changed to a rapid 
whirl, the grunting being continued. Soon some began to fall out, 
wearied and exhausted with the exercise. The others stood up and 
kept on whirling, until but few remained on their feet. Then the 
leader gave a signal at which they came to a sudden pause, and strik- 
ing up a dirge-like wail left the room. The whole performance is 
very disgusting and unintelligible; and is witnessed with pain. 

While wandering about Smyrna, one day, we fell in with a rich old 
Jew whose name was Daniel. He invited us to his house, and intro- 
duced us to his wife and children. One of the girls was but thirteen 
years old, and had been married two years. A daughter at the age of 
twelve was to be married the next month. We asked him how many 
daughters he had, and he replied that if he had as many daughters as 
^ons they would ruin him. We asked him why, and he told us that 
he gave £200 or $1,000 to the man who married the girl, and spent 
$1,000 more in ornaments. He showed us the necklace and brace- 
lets which he had bought for the girl so soon to be married. They 
were very elegant and costly. We were told by him that some 
Jewish official goes about making matches between the boys and girls, 







K'V ^^.^It^^ 



I 



a/Wv 



'iL 



§3 A/>' VAN WINKLE'S TRAVELS. 

th(* l<argain being made with the parents and not with the parties 
themsehes, the young folks not being consulted in the case. 

The c.d man, with his flowing robe and his long white beard, 
sitting among his children, was well calculated to remind us of the 
ancient patriarchs who traded away their sons and daughters as 
custom, caprice or convenience suggested. 

We went out to see the tomb of Polycarp one day. It is on the 
hill overlooking the town, and a stately palm-tree waves over it. The 
o'd maityr has ascended to his reward. 

Ephesus. 

This once populous city is now a mass of ruins. Here whert 
P^.ul preached and the Great Diana was worshipped, is nothing bu^- 
desolation and decay, and the traveller feels a sensation of profound 
sadness, as he makes his way among the remains of former greatness. 

The city is xoxy ancient. It is situated at the mouth of the Cay- 
ster, and was at one time a great centre of commerce. We find 
traces of it for more than ten centuries before the Christian era- 
The name of the place figures in art, literature, commerce and relig-^ 
ion. The temple of its deity, Artemis, was one of the wonders of 
antiquity. On the night Alexander the Great was born, this temple 
was set on fire by an incendiary named Erostratus, his object being 
to make his name famous. In this he failed, for very few persons 
know anything of his exploit. Only a fool expects to become famous 
by a great crime. The temple was rebuilt. The women as well as 
the men of Ephesus vied with each other to make great sacrifices for 
this purpose. The reconstructed edifice was Ionic in its architecture, 
and was a marvel of style and finish. It was regarded as one of the 
seven wonders of the world. Artemis was the famous Diana, who 
was such an object of interest to the silversmiths and shrine-makers 
of Ephesus at the time Paul went there to preach. The attributes 
and powers of this goddess were supposed to be wonderful, but she 
has not saved her chief city from destruction. 



IN ASIA MINOR. 



^2> 



Within a few years, vigorous explorations have been made, whici'- 
show that the accounts of the former splendor of the place have not 
been exaggerated. " I commenced," says Mr. J. T. Wood, " by explor- 
ing the great theatre which is now called St. Paul's Theatre b}^ the 
Greeks, and which is u' -doubtedly the theatre mentioned in the New 
Testament. It was *' grand building of the ancient city, and was 
raised on the western lope of Mount Covessus, within a few hundred 
yards of which was situated the city port. The outer diameter of the 




PLAIN OF EPHESUS. 



theatre was four hundred and ninety-five feet, and it was capable of 
seating twenty-four thousand five hundred persons. It had a splen- 
did proscenium, adorned with two tiers of columns, and at each 
end of this there was an entry for those persons of high rank, the 
vestal virgins, and others who were entitled to places on the lowermos'' 
seats nearest the stao^e. It must have been at one of the entrance?^ 
that Gt. Paul struggled with his friends who succeeded in prevent- 
ing his entrance into the theatre, on the occasion of the uproar 



84 ^^P VAN WINKLE'S TRAVELS. 

caused by Demetrius and his fellow-craftsmen, or it might have beer, 
^t the foot of one of the slopes, probably the southern one, which led 
lip steep ascents from the road to the entrances." 

The tomb of St. Luke, now in ruins, a circular building, fifty feet 
in diameter, is here. Though Luke did not die, nor was he buried 
in Ephesus, the tomb, which in its time was an elaborate structure, is 
an object of considerable interest. There are also ruins of churches^ 
public buildings, private residences, but the stamp of desolation is on 
them all. The city, or what is left of it, lies on the plain like a fallen 
queen, while silence broods where once was activity and lifcc 

One of the churche. , now in 
ruins, bears the name of St. 
Luke. Mr. Wood thinks it wa? 
formerly dedicated to that Evan- 
gelist, but it is more likely that 
it derived its name from being 



located near what is said to be 

the tomb of St. Luke. These 

churches show that Christianity 

obtained great w^ealth and in- 

EPHESiAN AMPHITHEATRE. flucncc, and that the original 

ibuilders of these places of public worship were not stinted in their 

means, nor narrow in their idea of architectural elegance. 

The people of Ephesus are as fallen as the city. With few excep- 
tions they are a wretched class, who live among the ruins, and rob all they 
can. They obtain a scanty living by raising swine, tilling the earth, 
and fleecing travellers. Whether on the plain, or on the hills. Prion- 
and Covessus, the same poverty and degradation are seen. The woe 
fell not only on the church but on liie city. The candlestick has been 
removed out of its place, and Ephesus is a mound of elegant fragments 
of a once renowned emporium of wealth and fashion. It is sad to look 
tebout upon the sepulchres of departed greatness. The great heroes 





RUINS OF EPHESUS. 



86 mP VAN WINKLE'S TRAVELS. 

and statesmen have been forgotten. Their names are aJso lost. They 
are, with a few rare exceptions, unmentioned in history. They 
might have been as ambitious as the man who set fire to the temple, 
that his name and fame might rise parallel with that of the goddess 
Diana. The members of the council condemned him to death, and 
decreed that his name should never again be mentioned. But theirs, 
like his, are forgotten. 

The image of Diana, in the temple, was a small ebony statue, 
which was supposed to have fallen down from Jupiter, and as sach, 
was worshipped by the multitude. 

Paul first visited Ephesus a. d. 54, while he was on his journey to 
Jerusalem. At that time he saw the degradation of the people. He 
hastened to Jerusalem, completed his business, and returned to 
Ephesus, where he abode three years. At times he had the compan- 
ionship and co-operation of Gains, Aristarchus, Timothy, Erastus and 
Titus. He at once organized his church of twelve disciples. Bui 
soon trouble arose. The silversmiths of Ephesus, who had gained a 
living by the manufacture of little silver images of Diana, an article 
that was in great demand, found that this revival had spoiled their 
business. Their trinkets would not sell, and they held a mass meet- 
ing, made confusion, created an uproar, and set the whole cit}^ in a 
blaze. 

About the beginning of the third century, Constantine ascended the 
throne of the Roman empire, and has been styled " the first Christian 
e nperor." He had seen the folly of paganism, and on his accession 
to the throne in 306, he resolved to make Christianity the religion of 
his empire. His conversion, as related by Eusebius, was a sort of 
miracle. " He was marching at the head of his army from France into 
Italy, on an expedition which he knew fully involved all his future des- 
tiny. Oppressed with extreme anxiety, he looked for aid of some 
deity. About noon one da}', while engaged in prayer, a lummous cross 
appeared in the clouds, brighter than the sun. On it was inscribed 



/// ASIA MINOR. 



87 



/n hoc signo vinces (by this sign thou shalt conquer). While he 
pondered, an angel appeared to him, and bade him make the cross the 
symbol of his nation, and inscribe it on all his armor. This pious 
deception was practised to influence the minds of credulous Christians 
and win them over in a body to his standard. He succeeded, and was 
no sooner seated on his throne than he began to rebuild the churches, 
and pass laws for the protection of Christians. Christianity became 
the established religion of the empire, the road to preferment and 
honor. But religion by this time had become very corrupt, and the 
Ephesian church, founded by Paul, and for a long time under the 
pastoral charge of the apostle John, began to decline. The city is a 
devastation. Its once gorgeous temples are mounds of ruins, and 
some traces of a wall, with a solitary watchtower, are all that remains 
of Ephesus. 

" A more thorough change can scarcely be conceived than that 
which actually occurred. Once the seat of active commerce, the very 
sea has shrunk from its solitary shores; its streets, once populous 
with the devotees of Diana, are now ploughed over by the Ottoman 
serf, or browsed by the sheep of the peasant. It was early the strong- 
hold of Christianity, and stands at the head of the apostolic churches 
of Asia. Not a single Christian now dwells within it; its mouldering 
arches and dilapidated walls merely whisper the tale of its glory; and 
it requires the acumen of the geographer, and the active scrutiny 
of the exploring traveller, to form a probable conjecture as to the 
actual site of the first wonder of the world." 

Dr. Chandler, who visited Ephesus long ago, says, — " The inhab- 
itants are a few Greek peasants, living in extreme wretchedness, 
dependence, and insensibility; the representatives of an illustrious 
people, and inhabiting the wreck of their greatness — some, the 
substructure of the glorious edifices which they raised, some beneath 
the vaults of the stadium, once the crowded scene of their diversions. 
We heard the partridge call in the area of the theatre and of the 



88 RIP VAN WINKLE'S TRAVELS. 

stadium. The glorious pomp of its heathen worship \s no longei 
remembered; and Christianity, which was there riursed by apostles 
and fostered by general councils, until it increased to fulness of 
stature, barely lingers on in an existence hardly visible. On approach- 
ing it from the wretched village of Aiasalouk, a few scattered 
fragments of antiquity occur; and on the hill above, some traces of the 
former walls, and a solitary watchtower, mark the extent of the city." 

" Where is Diana's temple ? — Where the shout 
Of many people like the deep-voic'd sea, 
' Great is the Ephesian Goddess ! ' 

— Scan the dust 

That gathers o'er thy feet, — and point me out 
One glittering particle of that proud dome, 
And those rich columns, gift of throned kings — 
Where is the altar at whose costly shrine 
All Asia worshipped in that idol's praise 
Which fell from Jupiter ? 

Thou canst not tell ! — 
World! do thy wofiders pass away so soon? 

— I pause, — but none reply, 
Save where the Cayster with retreating wave 
Moans round some sullen rock, — or from his pool 
With rushes dank, the lonely bittern screams. 

■— Where art thou, Ephesus ? — I hear a voice 

As from the hollow grave, — " Go, search God's book, 

And when thou mark'st its fearful threat fulfill'd 

Upon these lifeless plains, — look to thine heart 

And see if aught doth rankle there, to tempt 

The Righteous Judge in sorrow's night to shroud 

Thy 'golden candlestick.' — If so, repent ! 

Do the first works, — to thy first love return, — 

And on these ruins date thy deathless gain." 

Pergamos. 

Pergamum, good authorities say, the real name of the place 

should be. This is an inland town, twenty-two miles from the sea, 

and is on the banks of the Caicus, at its junction with the Selmas. 

The ancient <iOwn was located between two hills, on one of whicn 



IN ASIA MINOR. 



89 



the Acropolis was burnt. It must in its day have been a place of great- 
beauty, and its relics show a high state of art on the part of its inhab- 
itants. The remains of an amphitheatre scarcely inferior to that at 




FERGAMOS. 



Ephesus, the fragments of one or two churches, with extensive ruins of 
other public and private edifices, fill up the valley and seem to mourn 
over the devastations which have come upon the city and its inhabi- 
tants. The ancient city was renov/ned for its culture and refinement 



QQ RIP VAN WINKLE'S TRAVELS. 

One or two extensive libraries were found there, and in the ancient 
world of letters, Pergamos held a high place. A Christian church 
was planted in this city at a very early date, and for a time it 
flourished, but soon became corrupt, and when John was commanded 
to write to the "angels" or ministers of the churches in Asia, the 
church in Pergamos was overwhelmed with corruption and false 
doctrines. Little is known of the church, except that it grew more 
and more corrupt, and was finally extinguished. The name of the 
city is said to come from Pergamus, who slew a Teuthranian king and 
took his territory. It has been ruled by Persians, Romans, and 
Syrians, and has a checkered history, until now its name is a byword 
and reproach. 

Thyatira. 
This is the ancient name of the modern town, Ak-hissar, which 
means " White Castle." It is a ten days' horseback ride from Perga- 
mos to this place, but every hour of the ride is through a region oi' 
wild beauty which makes it anything but tiresome. In the early days 
Thyatira was celebrated for its dyes and dyers. It was a great place 
for this branch of business, and traces of it are yet found. The 
church here was probably planted by Lydia. She was baptized by 
the Apostle Paul at Philippi, having there become a convert to 
the Christian faith. Returning to her home with her household, 
which was probably composed of the servants and tradespeople who 
went with her to help her sell her goods, she organized the church, 
which seems never to have been greatly prospered, and which soon 
became corrupt and extinct. As a woman planted the church, so a 
woman corrupted it. " That woman Jezebel " wrought much misery, 
and the church was denounced because she was allowed to teach. 
The present population of the town is somewhat thriving. Signs of 
industry are seen. The mosque of St. John, once a Christian temple, 
is still an elegant structure. The products of the place are cotton and 
grain, which are cultivated in comparatively large quantities. Ar 



IN ASIA MINOR. 



9 



" inn " of great cleanliness and quiet is found here, and, to a traveller 
liungry and tired, this is not one of the least recommendations of the 
place. The towns in Asia Minor are sadly destitute of this luxury, 
and the one we found in Thyatira was a great aid to our comfort. 





AK HISSAR. 



Sardis. 



Sart is the present name. A ride of about forty or fifty miles 
brings us to this seat of one of the ancient churches, on the slopes of 
Mount Tmolus. Through it flowed the nver Pactolus, and all aroun^l 



02 RIP VAN WINKLE'S TRAVELS. 

are the ruins of the once elegant city. There are the remains of temples, 
the marble arches and pillars, and the broken remnants of great build- 
ings. There is a terrible sense of desolation over everything. You 
are conscious, as you sit on the broken stones, that you are in th?^ 
sepulchre of a great and renowned city. The Turkish village is 
thriving, but it does not break the monotony nor drive away the 
sadness. The theatre and the stadium show their outlines, while the 
remains of the churches tell us to some extent what Sardis was in the 
days of Christ. The Acropolis, whose walls still stand, was the great 
attraction of the place. But nothing else now remains but undistin- 
guishable ruins and the Turkish hamlet, with a few pillars of the 
ruined temple of Cybele, to tell of a city that opened its arms to wel= 
come the gospel, but proved unworthy of its blessings. 

Philadelphia. 

Not the city of William Penn, between the Delaware and the 
Schuylkill, but Allah Shehr (City of God), about thirty miles from 
Sardis. This is the best preserved of all the seven cities to whom 
special messages were sent by John. The city was built by and 
named for Attains Philadelphus, and is situated on an arm of Mount 
Tmolus. It has suffered much from earthquakes, and one of these 
dire convulsions during the reign of Tiberius, in the seventeenth year 
of the Christian era, nearly destroyed the place, but it rose again, and 
became an opulent and wealthy city, and so continued for many years. 
The present town has more than a thousand inhabitants, and is an 
interesting spectacle from any of its approaches. Christian worship, 
corrupted to be sure, has been maintained here from the days of the 
apostles. There are five or more places of worship in this little 
village, and the tide of Mohammedanism is stoutly and successfully 
resisted. One church now standing is a structure supposed to have 
been one of the early buildings erected by the primitive church, 
and it may be that apostles preached within its walls. 

Howevefj there is not much of interest to the traveller, who soon 




TEMPLE OF CYBELE, SARDIS. 



94 J^IP VAN WINKLE 'S TRA VELS. 

sees all there is of the place, and is glad to be gone. Gibbon, speaking 
of the seven churches, and the cities in which they were located;, 
says, — " Philadelphia alone has been saved by prophecy, oi couragt. 
At a distance from the sea, forgotten by the Europeans, encompassed 
on all sides by the Turks, her valiant citizens defended their religion 
and freedom above fourscore years, and at length capitulated with the 
proudest of the Ottomans. Among the Greek colonies and churches 
of Asia, Philadelphia is still erect, — a column in a scene of ruins, — 
a pleasing example that the paths of honor and safety may some- 
times be the same." 

There has been little change in Philadelphia for a long time. But 
modern views seem to be encroaching, and probably those views, 
acted out in the interest of commerce, may save it from the entire 
ruin which time has brought on Sardis and Laodicea. Already the 
sound of the rushing steam train is heard in Asia Minor, and the 
heavy tread of the later day is heard on the ancient plains, awakening 
them to enterprise and vitality. 

Laodicea. 

Eski-hissar, — this means "Old Castle," and is the modern name 
of ancient Laodicea. The city was famed eighteen centuries ago for 
its vast wealth. It was the great mart of that coun;;ry. It was a city 
of banks and bankers, and drew to it men of means. 

What Gibbon said of the place is literal^ true. " The circus and 
the stately theatres of Laodicea are now peopled with wolves and 
foxes." The ruins of the old gymnasium are mounds and piles of 
broken fragments that no antiquarian can assort or put togethei. 
Poverty reigns all round, and the woe of God has fallen on the city of 
bankers and merchants who once boasted of their gold and fine 
raiment. 

It would make my letter too long to tell of the other places 
visited. I wanted to cross over into Armenia, and dash over the 
plain of Babylon, or stroll about awhile among the ruins of Nineveh, 





PHILADELPHIA. 



96 RIP VAN WINKLE'S TRAVELS. 

or look upon Mount Ararat, on the top of which the ark rested, 
but my travelHng companions cannot take the trip. Ever since 
I read Layard's researches at Nineveh I have felt a strong desire 
to see the famous city to which Jonah was sent on his perilous 
venture, but must forego the pleasure at this time. More than any 
other city of the remote past, has Nineveh contributed to the 
department of archaeology, and thrown light upon the manners, 
customs and peoples of other ages. Nor do any other cities so show 
the literal fulfilment of scripture as these two, — Babylon on tKe 
Euphrates, and Nineveh on the Tigris. It seems as if the builders 
of those two cities were charged with writing on the stones and bricks 
of the very foundations a history which should last until the end of 
the world, and be read by the curious and the wise after thousands of 
years had rolled over the human family. Babylon speaks of Nebu- 
chadnezzar from the tower of Ben Hassan to Birs Nimroud, while 
Nineveh is eloquent in every vestige of a city that for ages was hid- 
den from the eyes of men, but now comes out of its sepulchre to 
be an impressive record of Px evidence and an accurate fulfilment of 

prophecy. 

Rip Van Winkle. 




BIRS NIMROUD. 



98 



RIP VAN WINKLE'S TRAVELS. 



IN DAMASCUS. 




DAMASCUS. 

After the visit to Asia Minor, which included many spots seen, 
of which no mention is made in the letters of Rip Van Winkle to his 
boy friends, the party turned back toward the sea^ and the master 
wrote next from Damascus. 

Damascus. 

Damascus is one of the oldest cities on the globe. Its history is 
lost in the dim haze of remote antiquity. It had even in the long-ago 
times of the patriarch Abraham become an influential and populous 
place. Josephus informs us that it was founded by Uz, the great 
grandson of Noah, and we have no reason to dispute the statement. 
The city is referred to by Isaiah, who says, " The head of Syria is 
I^amascus." One of the stewards of Abraham's household, Eleazar, 



IN DAMASCUS. qq 

abode here. One of the most marked subjects of miraculous clemency 
lived here — Na-aman. One of the most noted of the apostles com- 
menced his ministry at Damascus, and went out of the gate at which 
he had been converted, praising God. For perennial beauty, for 
excellence of location, for brilliant history and scenery, Damascus has 
few rivals. Its ancient history is interwoven with the names of Benha- 
dad and Hazael; its modern history is connected with those ever-con- 
quering Romans, and the fanatical Moslems. The city has been in the 
hands of the Babylonians, the Persians, the Greeks, the Romans, the 
Saracens, and the Turks, but it lies to-day beneath a Syrian sun, a 
miracle of beauty. 

It is said that Mohammed once came within sight of Damascus, 
and after gazing long on its beautiful outlines, turned away, and when 
asked why he did not enter, replied that a man could have but one 
paradise, and that his must be in the future. The prophet could have 
paid no more striking tribute to the beauty of Damascus than this. 

Striking the Abana, a beautiful stream, now running slowly along, 
then surging with great velocity, now spreading wide upon a pebbly 
bed, then channelled between rocks that have been worn to perfect 
smoothness; now gliding beneath vines and fig-trees, and arches of 
flowers, and anon pouring forth into crystal sunlight, and sparkling 
with wonderful beauty, I never had an appreciation of Naaman's 
feelings until I saw Abana. No wonder he asked, "Are not Abana 
and Pharpar, rivers of Damascus, better than all the waters of 
Israel?" 

Peeping through a cut in Anti-Lebanon, we gaze down on 
Damascus five hundred feet below us. Enveloped in foliage, rich, 
green, and golden, extending for miles, backed by forests of cedar, 
with its hundred and fifty thousand inhabitants, its countless mosques 
and minarets glittering in the setting sun, beaming with beauty and 
dazzling to the eye, was the city we had come so far to see. 

On entering Damascus, which we did in a long procession, single 



lOo RIP VAN WINKLE'S TRAVELS. 

file, we found that we were not among friends. The scowling Mos- 
lems came out and looked at us as we walked our horses through their 
streets, and the Turkish soldiers lounging in the street seemed 
scarcely willing to clear the way before us. 

We found the Hotel de Palmyra in the street called "Straight," 
the Via Recta of the ancient Romans. This is doubtless the same street 
to which Ananias was sent, to inquire in "the house of Judas, for 
one Saul of Tarsus." It is now a narrow lane, crowded with houses 
and stores, very crooked, and running the whole length of the city. 
It was once a broad street, with noble colonnades, forming three grand 
avenues through the city, and was lined with noble abodes. The 
pillars of these colonnades have left their marks, and the street has 
grown narrower and narrower, according to Turkish customs, until 
in scarcely any part of it could two carriages stand abreast. The 
street is about one mile and an eighth in length, the houses mostly 
covered with thatched roof and matting, and it is quite as dismal as 
Via Dolorosa in Jerusalem. 

The Hotel de Palmyra is a venerable old structure, encircling an 
open square, into which all the apartments enter, light and ventilation 
being secured from within, rather than from without. The outside of 
the hotel resembles a high, rough, windowless wall. In the centre of 
the square court within is a marble fountain, beneath the falling jets 
of which the goldfish were sporting and the lilies were growing. The 
apartments were originally finished in a style of great Oriental mag- 
nificence. I doubt not that the antique carvings in the room where I 
slept would cost as much as a respectable house in New York or 
Boston. In that hotel we had a grand illustration of Oriental suppers. 
The table was set in an alcove looking out upon the court and the 
fountain. Huge candelabras were on the table, and numerous wax 
candles sent a cheerful light and a grateful perfume around the place. 
There was indeed something romantic in the whole scene. The table 
loaded with beautiful flowers; the candles lighting up the heavy carv- 



I02 RIP VAN WINKLE'S TRAVELS. 

ings; the water gurgling and glittering in the gloomy rays oi light; 
the black servants, in long, flowing oriental robes, moving noise- 
lessly about; and the shadowy appearances that seemed to come 
and go with the flickering beams, all added to the mystery of the 
hour. 

A peculiarity of the table-serving is that the articles, which are very 
numerous, are all served on separate dishes. A little bit of meat is 
served first. Then, when that is eaten, the plate is whipped away and 
a vegetable is put in its place, and with all our ingenuity at Damas- 
cus we could not get what we wanted to eat, meat and vegetables on 
the same plate. A dozen or twenty courses are set, and you rise from 
the table hungry. There is a parade of nothing but dishes and dessert, 
fruit being very plenty. To have a dinner served in English style is 
an impossibility. 

And now let us go about Damascus. We put ourselves in the 
hands of Abu Ibrahim, an old Jew who acts as guide and cicerone to 
strangers. He had so served man}^ Americans, and their old tattered, 
greasy recommendations he exhibited with much delight. The old 
man took us first to the bazaars, a famous institution in all Eastern 
cities. I may as well describe them. They are much alike, varying 
from each other only in richness and extent. They are long streets or 
avenues, covered with matting or roof, pierced so as to admit the light. 
These avenues are lined on both sides with little stalls, some ten feet 
wide in front and from four to ten feet deep. They are devoted to all 
the trades, and to every variety of ware. Some of them are so 
shallow that they serve only as a show case, while the proprietor is 
obliged to sit outside; and some of them are deep enough for the 
craftsmen to be at work inside. These market places are gaudy and 
fascinating in the extreme. An Arab always runs to the bazaar. 
Ask a cicerone what there is to see in Cairo, Damascus or Constanti- 
nople, and he will begin the enumeration of objects with the bazaars. 
Ask a dragoman what he can show you, and he will tell you, " The 



I04 RIP VAN WINKLE'S TRAVELS, 

bazaars." Whichever way he starts with you, he is always sure 
to bring you to the fancy exchange. These little shops contain all 
sorts of traffic. In one of them the silversmiths will be at their 
work; in another the cabinetmakers will be making antique furniture, 
boxes inlaid with pearl, and chairs sparkling with tinsel and gilt; in 
another shoes are sold; black shoes and white shoes; red shoes and 
green shoes; yellow shoes and drab shoes; shoes with gold spangles 
arid silver spangles; shoes for little feet and shoes for big feet; shoes 
for matrons and shoes for maids — all sorts of shoes; in another all 
sorts of upholstery and needle-work are shown, very tempting to 
Turkish ladies, as it would be to American ladies; in another all 
the branches of the saddler's trade are exhibited — -^beautiful Turkish 
saddles, gay bridles, and all the decorations of that noble creature, 
the horse; in another are all sorts of tin ware, fiom a tin trumpet to 
a tin ventilator; in another we find toys and trinkets for boys and 
girls, jumping jacks, and gimcracks, in vast variety. The goods 
are showily arranged, and the keeper asks about four times as much 
as he expects to get. If you ask the price of a pair of shoes, and he 
says twenty francs, you may calculate on getting them at about five 
francs. 

The next place to which the guide took us was the great mosque, 
Into which we were allowed to look, but were not permitted to enter. 
This mosque is very ancient, and there is proof that it was the famous 
house of the god Rimmon which was in existence as long ago as the 
days of Naaman the Syrian. It has a minaret two hundred and 
fifty feet high, called the "Minaret of Jesus." The Mohammedans 
say that, when Christ comes to judge the world, he will sit on this pin- 
nacle. Built for a heathen god, when Christianity subdued the world, 
this pagan temple was dedicated to Christ. Over a former gateway 
of this mosque is a cross with the inscription, — " Thy kingdom, O 
Christ, is an everlasting kingdom, and Thy dominion endureth 
throuf Sout all generations." There it stands, and there it will stand 



IN DAMASCUS. IQt- 

until the Koran shall be banished, and Christ shall be enthroned again 
in this ancient house of Rimmon. It is claimed that, in a little sanctu- 
ary under the mosque is kept the head of John the Baptist. "Histo- 
rans tell us that Khaled visited the cathedral after the capture of the 
city, and insisted on obtaining admission to the sacred cave. On 
descending he found a small vault with an altar, on which was laid 
the casket. Upon it was an inscription in Greek, to the following 
effect: ^ This casket contains the head of John the Baptist, son of 
Zachariah.' " 

But the most interesting and most melancholy thing I saw at 
Damascus was the Maronite section of that city. About twenty 
years ago, occurred those fearful outbreaks in which so many of the 
Maronites were slaughtered by the Mohammedan Druses. At the 
beginning of the year i860, there lived in Damascus about twenty- 
eight thousand Maronites or Christians, a class of people who rejected 
the teachings of Mohammed. The rest of the population, with the 
exception of a few thousand Jews, were Druses and Mohammedans. 
Throughout the northern part of Syria the Druses and Maronites 
are found, and they cordially hate each other. In the early part 
of the year i860, the war which had long been threatening be- 
tween the two factions broke out. The Druses had the sympathy 
of all Mohammedans, and even the Turkish troops sided with 
them, and, thus assisted, they entered upon the remorseless murder 
of the Christians, as the Maronites were called. All over Syria 
deeds of blood were perpetrated, villages burned, men, women and 
children murdered. Not only at Damascus, but at Aleppo and 
Hamath, and all the inland cities, blood flowed in torrents. Even the 
Franks and the missionaries were killed, whenever they fell into the 
cruel hands of the Druses. 

The poor Maronites were slaughtered like sheep. One hundred 
and sixty towns were burnt; ten thousand men were killed, and 
twenty-five thousand women were sold into slavery. For a time after 



Io6 RIP VAN WINKLE'S TRAVELS. 

the outbreak commenced, the Christians in Damascus were not 
molested, but soon the storm broke out. Two thousand fom hun- 
dred were killed, and the rest expelled, leaving their houses and 
property to the plunderers. The slaughter was terrible. Men were 
divested of their clothing and pinioned to the walls of houses in the 
form of a cross; dead bodies were piled up in the streets, and noth- 
ing left undone to make the massacre terrible beyond description. 
The savage Moslems and the Turkish soldiers, entering the houses of 
the Maronites, would commit every abuse upon the women, and then 
murder them; little babes were caught from the couch and dashed 
to pieces against the marble walls, on which the blood still re- 
mains. 

Just beyond the quarter once occupied b}' the Christians is an old 
leper hospital, said to have been the city residence of Naaman. The 
house from the window of which Paul was let down is shown. It is 
a wonder they have not kept the veritable bucket. 

We were in Damascus five days, and then were glad to get away 
as we could. The night before we started, the pasha confiscated our 
horses, and only by the most strenuous efforts of the American consul 
did we get them. We were off before the pasha or people were 
up, and not one of us felt safe until a dozen miles were between us 
and the city. 

In our rambles outside of the city, we saw some of the cedars of 
Lebanon. The groves are beautiful, and furnish shade for travellers, 
and concealment from the nomadic tribes that seek them as a refuge 
from law and justice. It is not very safe for a small party to be found 
in them. They are likely to be robbed of all they have. 

After leaving Damascus we visited Baalbec, that wonderful city of 
ruins at the foot of Anti-Libanus. Baalbec is called by the Greeks 
Heliopolis, the city of the sun. In its day, it must have been well 
worthy of the name. For hundreds of years it has been in ruins. In 
visiting Baalbec, says Dr. Thompson, the " first impression of disap- 



IN DAMASCUS. 



107 



pointment runs rapidly into admiration and wonder. You go to the 
end of a prostrate column, and are almost startled to find that, on tip- 
toe, and with the hand at utmost stretch, you cannot measure its diam- 
terl You climb in between two of those standing columns, and feeJ 




CEDARS OF LEBANON. 



instantly dwarfed into an infant. Looking up to the entablature wri. 
a shudder, you wonder how big it may be. A fragment lies at the 
base; you leap down and measure. It is fourteen feet thick I And 
such fragments and such columns are all around, and block up your 
way. Little by little, and with difficulty, you grasp the grand design. 



io8 



RIP VAN WINKLE 'S TEA VELS. 



and, going out eastward into the centre of the broad platform, take 
your stand in front of the main entrance. With those six pillars to 
help your imagination, you reconstruct the whole noble edifice, 
with twenty such giants on a side! and there you may be safely 
left much longer than we have time to wait for you. It is growing 




BAALBEC. 



late, and the subject tedious. If you want to study either Baalbec or 
Palmyra in detail, I commend you to the magnificent drawings of 
Wood and Dawkins. They visited Baalbec in 1751; but, though 
thus old, they are far more elaborate and minute than any others. Of 
written descriptions there are countless numbers, but the only way to 



IN DAMASCUS. 



109 



become really possessed of Baalbec is to visit, explore, and study 
it for yourself." 

The immense size of the stones used by the builders of Baalbec 
strikes every beholder with wonder. Dr. Thompson says that these 
stones were quarried in different ages. "The most ancient," he 
says, "are the foundations seen on the west and north sides oi 
the great temple to which the _-rT^^-^^_ 

six columns belonged. The 
first tier above ground con- 
sists of stones of different 
lengths, but all about twelve f 
and a half feet thick, and the 
same in width. Then came 
over these stones, more than 
sixty-three feet long, the 
largest blocks, perhaps, that 
were ever placed in a wall by 
man. One of this class lies in 
the quarry, where it can be 
viewed all round, and meas- 
ured easily. It is fourteen by ^^ 
seventeen, and sixty-nine feet 
long." Dr. Robinson, who, Dr. 
Thompson says, " is the greatest master of measuring tape in the 
world," gives the dimensions of three stones thus: "One is sixty-four 
feet long, another sixty-three feet eight inches, and the remaining one 
sixty-three feet; the whole, one hundred and ninety feet eight inches; 
the height about thirteen feet, and the thickness perhaps greater." 
You will, of course, ask about the machinery with which the 
ancients hauled such stones as these. But no one can telL you much 
about that. You must search among the " Lost Arts " for the wonder- 
ful enginery that must have been employed. The more I see of the 




FALLEN PILLAR. 



£IO ^^P VAN WINKLE'S TRAVELS. 

cities of other days, the more am I impressed with the magnitude of 
the loss the human family has sustained in some of its ages from the 
dropping out of scientific facts and formulas, mechanical appliances, 
and artistic skill. 

From Baalbec to the Cedars ! From art to nature I From man to 

God! 

Rip Van Wi nkle. 



IN GAZJLEE. 



1 1 I 



IN GALILEE. 




GENNESARETH. 



The reader will now be asked to accompany our traveller through 
the Holy Land. The boys are waiting to receive the letter, but we 
will read it before the master seals it up and sends it away. 

Tiberias. 

Leaving Damascus, we struck across the mountains of Lebanon and 
the wild country which intervened, and after hard horseback riding 
and much delay, reached the head waters of the Sea of Galilee, now 
and then getting sight of the historical mountains, as they towered 
toward the sky. Hermon the Great, and Little Hermon, Gilead, and 
Tabor show themselves, while, now and then, the great head of Car- 
mel, off by the sea, is seen, or imagined among the cloud lands. 

We reach Chorazin, now known as Tell Hum, in every stone of 
which we seem to hear a divine woe pronounced. Here we find 



112 



KIP VAN WINKLE S TRAVELS. 



some ruins said to be older than any in Palestine. What the edifice 
was used for none can tell, but it marks an order of architecture such 
as is seldom found in the Holy Land; " The extent," says Dr. Rob- 
inson, "of the foundations of this structure is no longer definitely to be 
made out. We measured one hundred and five feet along: the north- 
ern wall, and eighty feet along the western; perhaps this was their 
whole length. Within the space thus enclosed, and just around, are 





MAGDALA. 



strewed, in utter confusion, numerous columns of compact limestone, 
with beautiful Corinthian capitals, sculptured entablatures, orna- 
mental friezes, and the like. The pedestals of the columns are often 
still in their place, though sometimes overturned and removed." 

The next village on the shore is Magdala, The place, as we rode 
through it, looked as if the seven devils cast out of Mary still lived 
here in quiet possession of the town. 

Leaving Magdala, we rode through groves of magnificent ole- 



IN GALILEE. 11^ 

anders and magnolias, which, higher than the horse's head, are in flill 
bloom, and we are obliged to crush them down to ride along. 

A mile or two on we came to Beth Arbel, a little, mean village on 
the shore. Then descending to the water's edge, we ride beneath some 
high bluffs, full of caves, in which lurking robbers now make their 
homes. In the time of Herod the Great, lawless bandits filled these 
caves, and they became so numerous as to demand the attention of 
the government; and so strong were they, that for a long time they 
defied military power. Herod lowered men down from the high 
cliffs above, and they threw themselves upon the robbers, or hurled 
arrows at them, and destro3'ed them. In this way, the caves were 
cleared of these dangerous men who had long infested them, and from 
that time became the abodes of peaceful hermits, who subsisted on the 
fish of the lake and the berries of the hill. There are rooms for five 
hundred men to live in these caves comfortably and securely. 

Tiberias is located close to the shore of the lake, and is still a 
somewhat populous city. When we reached, after a hard ride, our 
tents, which were pitched on a rising ground overlooking the waters, 
it seemed to me that I had hardly ever seen a view more beautiful and 
inspiring. The whole region is one of surpassing loveliness. No 
wonder Christ often resorted to the Sea of Galilee. In his day, it 
must have been a place of wonderful attractions. The city of Ti- 
berias, which now contains but twenty-five hundred inhabitants, was 
founded by Herod Antipas, and though hardly mentioned in scripture, 
has figured largely in profane history. The lake is a basin of water, 
egg-shaped, thirteen miles long, and six miles wide. The river 
Jordan flows through the sea, rushing on its resistless course, keeping 
up its own distinct hues, until it pours out at the other end. The banks 
on the west side slope somewhat gradually to the water's edge, 
but over on the east side they are precipitous, two hundred -feet high, 
destitute of verdure, and looking sombre and gray in the light of the 
•summer's sun. When Christ lived, several fine cities were on the 



1X4 



RIP VAN WINKLE'S TRAVELS. 



westCfn shore of the sea, but they have disappeared one by one, 
Tiberias alone remaining. We spent one night here, bathed in the 
sea, and early the next morning took a scow, and had a voyage^ half 
way between a row and a sail, on the lake. To illustrate the want of 
energy and industry, I may state that though there are thousands of 
inhabitants on the shores of the sea, and every attraction to lead them 
out upon its waters, there is but one boat of any kind on this part of 
the lake, and that would be hardly deemed safe to cross a river a 
hundred yards wide in our country. The sea is full of fish, but there 
is no enterprise at boat building. Yankee enterprise or British capital 
would soon cover it with steamboats and yachts. 

The people, who subsist on fish, have two or three ways of taking 
them. The most common way is to feed them with chloride of mer^ 
cury, of which they eat and die, float to the shore, are gathered and 
taken to market. Another way is for a naked man to go out into the 
lake, and stand perfectly still, and when he sees in the crystal waters 
a fellow that he wants, he throws his net over him, and one time in a 
hundred gets him. 

I have told you that we had two boys in our company. On the 
morning of our arrival, the youngsters, while sitting on a rock over- 
looking the sea, had some half angry and half playful contest of words 
which resulted in a foolish attempt to jostle each other while close to 
the edge, the result of which was they were both thrown into the 
lake. They cried lustily for help, and though they both knew how to 
swim, as all boys should, they would have drowned if we had not 
been at hand to fish them out. They looked like drowned rats, and 
were greatly ashamed of themselves. 

We rode from Tiberias to Mount Tabor, supposed to be the scene 
of the Transfiguration. There may be doubt as to this being the 
veritable place, but it seems as if made by God for just such a transac- 
tion. It is about fourteen hundred feet above the plain, is conical in 
torm, and the ascent is sharp and tedious. There are caves in the 



Il6 RIP VAN WINKLE'S TRAVELS. 

wooded sides inhabited by hermits, who seldom, if ever, go to the 
villages below. From the top a glorious view is obtained, and well 
was I repaid for climbing. The lookout is grand. Yonder in the 
sunlight reposes the Sea of Galilee. Along the country runs the Jor- 
dan in its tortuous course! Lebanon, Carmel, Gilead, and Hermon, are 
all in view. In troublous times, Tabor is infested with robbers, and 
some of them we saw sitting on their horses, gazing at us from a 
distance. 

An incident occurred when I was on the top of Tabor which well 
nigh finished my journey before I desired. I had dismounted, and 
was walking along behind my horse in a somewhat thoughtless way. 
To quicken his pace I brushed a twig, which I canied in my hand, 
across his legs, which, instead of having the intended effect, caused 
him to dash his heels in my face, and I went backwards to the earth 
quicker by far than I can tell the story, seeing more stars than my 
gracious Father has ever placed in the heavens. My friends thought 
that was the end of me, and for a moment I thought so myself. 
However, I only received a few scratches and a lame rib. 

Leaving Tabor, we ride to the wells of Lubieh, and then to 
Hattin, or Horns of Hattin, a hill resembling the horns on the 
saddle of a camel, and said to be the Mount of Beatitudes, where 
Christ preached his discourse recorded in the book of Matthew. It 
may have been the Mount, or it may have received the honor from the 
fact that a man speaking on its sides would have a noble place from 
which to addresF ^ vast multitude so that all could hear. A little 
beyond is the plain where Saladin overwhelmed the Crusaders, 
annihilating their last hope of dominion in Palestine. 

Nazareth. 

Late one afternoon we reached this town and encamped on a plain 
below the town, which is built on the side of a hill in a most 
delightful and picturesque way. The town looki beautiful at a 
distance, and when entered is found to be, unlike many other Eastern 

{ 



I^' GALILEE. 



117 



cities, cleanly and cheerful. There are about thirty-five hundred 
inhabitants, industrious and thrifty people. This, of course you know, 
was the scene of Christ's boyhood and early manhood. To this place 
his parents came on their return from Egypt, here he worked at his 




A WOMAN OF NAZARETH. 



trade, and associated with the young men who afterward beheld his 
n.ighty works. Every rock and hill, every valley and dell,-must have 
been familiar to him, and rendered sacred by his footsteps. 

When we had rested a little, we went up to the town, feeling a 



jl3 RIP VAN WINKLE'S TRAVELS. 

wonderful interest at every step. Beneath the Latin convent we were 
shown the "Grotto of the Annunciation," as it is termed. Leaving the 
church above, where a service is being performed, we pass down over 
a flight of fifteen steps into the cave where the angel communicated to 
the Virgin Mary the fact that she should immediately become the 
mother of the world's Master. The kitchen, fireplace, and chimney 
of the Virgin's subterranean house are pointed out. The monks sa}' that 
the roof of this cave is miraculously suspended in the air, and show us a 
pillar which they say the infidels hacked through to let the roof down, 
but instead of falling it remained suspended by miraculous power. 
We then go to the shop where Christ is said to have wrought at his 
trade, in which is an ancient table which they say he made, and from 
which he often ate and drank with his early friends and disciples. A 
very clumsy table it is, but not more clums}^ than the lies the monks 
tell about it. The next place is the synagogue in which Christ read 
the scriptures, and made that remarkable address which so offended 
his countrymen that they led him to the brow of the hill, to cast him 
down headlong. The synagogue is sixty by twent3'-five feet, a mean 
and filthy place. Walking about the streets we saw what we saw at 
Tiberias — men knitting stockings, and women grooming the horses, 
lugging water-jars, and doing the heavy work. That same Nazareth 
would be a paradise for some men I know of. 

Our camp lies near the fountain of the Virgin. The spring derives 
its name from the tradition that the angel first appeared to Mary when 
she was drawing water at this fountain. Probably she used to come 
here, as this is the common source from whence the people obtain 
their spring water. We went out each evening and saw the women 
come down with the great water-jars on their heads, and go singing 
away with their load. 

By a f*etour we made a visit to Safet, said to stand higher than any 
other ir^ n in Palestine. We spent one night there. I found the 
plac^ have a brighter, fresher, and more pleasant look than any 



I20 



RIP VAN WINKLE'S TRAVELS. 



other I saw in Palestine, probably because many of the houses have 
been erected within a few years. In 1837, an earthquake occurred 
which shook the whole mountain and threw down a la^ge part of the 




THE CARPENTER S SHOP. 



place. A large number perished, among whom were four thousand 
Jews. The signs of the earthquake will be found all about. The old 
houses are found to have seams and cracks in them. The earth 



IN GALILEE. I2i 

also shows seams and rents that were made in its rocky bosom on that 
day of wrath. 

At evening we ventured into a Jewish synagogue. A large num- 
ber of men were reading the scriptures. We took off our hats, but 
they flew at us and made us put them on again, and then they went on 
with their reading in a dull monotonous tone, swaying the body 
forward and backward as they read. The Jews are very numerous, 
and formerly had a printing-press and a book establishment. The 
Jews all through Palestine are a wretched-looking class of people. 
They wear a black hat, like a bean pot, and a long robe trimmed with 
cheap fur, and have a long curl of hair hanging down in front of each 
ear. Some one says that " a company of Jews look like the tenants of 
a hospital suddenly turned out by fire, and clothed in whatever came 

first to hand." 

Rip Van Winkle. 



I 22 



RIP VAN WINKLE'S TRAVELS. 



IN SAMARIA. 




VALLEY OF SHECHEM. 

*^ We set our faces toward Jerusalem to-day," said the master, on 
Monday morning, as he stood in front of his tent in Nazareth. 

"Yes, Jerusalem!" answered one of his friends. 

"How mournfully you speak that word — Jerusalem." 

" I cannot help it." 

" Are the associations sad } " 

" Very." 

"Now, to me it is otherwise." 

" To most persons it is. But I never can think of that city with- 
out a sigh." 

"But why?" 

" Because it was the scene of our Lord's death, and seems to be 
enveloped in a cloud of woe." 



IN SAMARIA. 



123 



" I have been looking forward to the time when I should see 
Jerusalem, as one of the most tender moments of my life." 

"You will doubtless find it so; for you have accustomed yourself 
to the idea." 

" Yes, but we have something to see before we get to that city." 

What the master saw before he reached Jerusalem, he tells the 
boys in this letter. 

Samaria. 

The great plain of Esdraelon stretches from Nazareth to Samaria. 
Our Sunday was spent in the former place, and it was a day of 
peculiar quiet and pleasure. We have three Sabbaths every week. 
Friday is the Mohammedan Sabbath, and the Moslems do not like to 
work on that day. Then Saturday is the Jewish Sabbath, and among 
Jews secular operations are generally suspended on that day; while 
the first day of the week being our Sabbath, we refused to travel or 
make purchases, — so we had three Sundays in one week. 

On Monday morning, the camp was broken up before the sun 
arose; and when the king of day came forth from his bedchamber in 
the east the party were capering over the vast plain of Esdraelon. This 
plain, extending from Jenin to Nazareth, is eighteen miles long and 
fifteen miles wide, and is fertile enough to supply grain for all Pales- 
tine. It is the old battle-ground of Palestine. Almost every foot of 
its soil has been saturated with blood, and is distinguished for some 
scene of heroic daring. This was the famous Megiddo, where a 
battle occurred between Necho, king of Egypt, and Josiah, king of 
Judah, in which the latter was wounded by an arrow, and put into his 
chariot to be driven to Jerusalem, where he soon died. 

Here on this plain, Barak and Deborah gained their great victory 
over Sisera. Barak was encamped on Mount Tabor with ten thou- 
sand men, and when Sisera came upon this plain, he came down and 
slaughtered his whole army. Sisera met with a sad fate, for after his 
great defeat and the slaughter of his army, a woman named Jael went 



124 ^^P VAN WINKLE'S TRAVELS. 

out to meet him as he fled, and invited him to her tent. He entered, 
and being ver}^ tired, went to sleep after taking some refreshments; and 
as he slept on the earth, Jael took a nail, and with a hammer pounded 
it through his temples and nailed him to the earth. By and by, 
Barak came along in full pursuit after Sisera, and Jael took him into 




PLAIN OF ESDRAELON. 



her tent and showed him the dead captain, with his head nailed to the 
ground. 

In riding across this plain, we pass the village of Jezreel, where 
Ahab and Jezebel, to get Naboth's vineyard, had him executed for 
blasphemy ; El Fuleh, or " the Bean," where Gideon gained his 
battle with the men who lapped the water ; Endor, where the 



IN SAMARIA. J 25 

Witch lived whom Saul consulted ; Nain, at the gates of which the 
young man was raised to life ; Shunem, where lived the Shunamite 
woman, and several other places of much historic interest. 

It was on this plain that Kleber, one of the bravest of Napoleon's 
generals, fought what is called in military annals, "the battle of Ta- 
bor," in 1799. For six hours he resisted with three thousand French 
troops a disciplined Turkish army of thirty thousand, one half of 
Vv'hom were the famous Mameluke cavalry. " Kleber," says the 
historian, " had left Nazareth with all his troops, in order to make an 
attack on the Turkish camp, but he was anticipated by the enemy, who 
advanced to meet him wnth fifteen thousand cavalry, and as many 
infantry, as far as the village of Fuleh. Kleber instantly drew up his 
little army in squares, with the artillery at the angles; and the forma- 
tion was hardly completed when the immense mass came thundering 
down, threatening to trample their handful of enemies under their 
horses' hoofs. The steady aim and rolHng fire of the French veterans 
brought down the foremost of the assailants, and soon formed a 
rampart of dead bodies of men and horses; behind this they bravely 
maintained the unequal combat for six hours, until at length Napoleon, 
with the cavalry and fresh divisions, arrived on the heights which 
overlooked the field of battle, and, amidst the multitudes with which 
it was covered, distinguished his men by the regular volleys which 
issued from their ranks. He instantly formed his plan. General 
Letourcq was dispatched with the cavalr}^ and two pieces of artillery 
against the Mamelukes, who were in reserve near Jenin. With the 
remainder he attacked the enemy on the two flanks and rear, while 
Kleber assumed the offensive in front. The Turks, thus exposed to a 
concentric fire, fled in utter disorder; and hundreds were mown down 
by the grape-shot, as they floundered through the marshy plain." 

Crossing Esdraelon the view is magnificent. The plain is wide, 
Gotted with villages and Arab tents. Here on this plain we have 
a tine view of old hoary Hermon. Wherever we go in this country 



126 R^P V^^ WINKLE'S TRAVELS. 

this splendid mountain is in view, its pale blue cone rising to the 
clouds, covered by its eternal snows. " Sheik of Mountains," Prime 
calls this lofty elevation, and royally it rises above the hills, to an alti- 
tude of ten thousand feet or more above the level of the sea, its triple 
peak surrounded by a blue haze, and its central pinnacle, with its 
white nightcap on, is a more commanding spectacle than any other 
mountain in Syria. Well is it called "Jebel-esh-sheik," — Monarch 
of Mountains. Though miles away, the rarity of the atmosphere 
made it appear near at hand, — the snow on its crown and breast 
flashing in the sun seemed its kingly robe of diamonds, and it became 
the magnetic object on which the eye gazed often and reverently. 

With this mountain in view, we reached the valley of Nablous, at 
the entrance of which is Jacob's Well, an object of the greatest interest 
to every Christian. There is something to see, but much more to 
think about at this point. I will try to describe the location of the 
well. Imagine two bold but beautiful mountains rising before you. 
Between them slopes a beautiful valley, miles in length, far up which 
you see the ancient town of Shechem. The vale is traversed by 
caravans, and various evidences of life are seen, as you gaze about its 
extended length. The mountains are Gerizim and Ebal. Gerizim is 
the Mount of Blessing, and Ebal the Mount of Cursing. Moses named 
these mountains and designated their uses. Before his death he 
referred to this spot in the following language: "And it shall come 
to pass, when the Lord thy God hath brought thee in unto the land 
whither thou goest to possess it, that thou shalt put the blessing upon 
Mount Gerizim, and the curse upon Mount Ebal. Are they not on the 
other side of Jordan, by the way where the sun goeth down, in the 
land of the Canaanites, which dwell in the champaign over-against 
Gilgal, beside the plains of Moreh? " 

From the entrance of the people into the country, these mountains 
were connected with blessing and cursing, one looked upon with 
aflfection, and the other with terror. I can scarcely conceive oi a 




NABLOTIS. 



128 



RIP VAN WINKLE'S TRAVELS. 



landscape view more beautiful than that which is present before us; 
the mountains on each side, the long herds, caravans, and water- 
courses, and Shechem, with its shining towers and glittering minanjts 




Jacob's well. 

in the distance. On a low spur of Mount Gerizim is Jacob's Well, at 
the mouth of which Christ sat talking with the woman of Samaria. 
Norman McLeod, in his beautiful essay, says that " the well is not 



IN SAMARIA. J2Q 

what we understand by that name. It is not a spring of water 
bubbling up from the earth, nor is it reached by an excavation. It is 
2 shaft cut in the living rock, about nine feet in diameter, and now 
upwards of seventy feet deep. As an immense quantit}^ of rubbish has 
fallen into it, the original depth must have been much greater, prob- 
ably twice what it is now. It was, therefore, intended by the first 
engineer as a reservoir rather than as a means of reaching a spring. 
Then, again, if any wall, as some suppose, once surrounded its mouth, 
on which the traveller could rest, it is now gone. The mouth is 
funnel-shaped, and its sides are formed by the rubbish of old buildings, 
a church having once been erected over it. But we can descend this 
funnel and enter a cave, as it were, a few feet below the surface, 
which is the remains of a small dome that once covered the mouth. 
Descending a few feet, we perceive in the floor an aperture partly 
covered by a flat stone, and leaving sufficient space through which we 
can look into darkness." 

I judge from the appearance of the well at the present time, that 
Jacob dug away the earth until he came to the ledge of rock. Then 
he made his excavation. When the shaft had been sunk he built over 
the place a vaulted chamber, about ten feet square, and at the top of 
the vault laid the stone of opening. Then the earth was levelled over 
the vault up to the stone. On this stone Christ sat when he talked 
to the woman. Christ was on his way to the North. His course lay 
along the valley in which this well was found. The city of Shechem, 
then in its glory, was some distance from the main street, and when the 
travelling Messiah came to the well, instead of going into the city, he 
sent his disciples to procure food while he rested on the stone. While 
they were gone the woman came. Long and tedious was the distance 
which she had come with her waterpot upon her head, and in the heat 
of the day and weariness of the work, she desired to be told how she 
might avoid coming again to draw. 

It is a tender spot to visit. It is authentic, and so intimately 

9 



X30 



Rli' VAN WINKLE'S TRAVELS. 



coii?'ected with one of the most touching scenes in the life of the Son 
of Man that it is associated in all Christian minds with Olivet, Geth- 
semane, and Calvary. We sat down on the stone, read the narrative 
from the New Testament, while a Samaritan priest, understanding 
English, listened with the greatest attention, and responded frequently. 
After the reading he gave us many interesting legends and traditions 
of the place. The well we measured, and found it to be sixty-nine 
feet deep. Every year it is fully filled up with stones and rubbish. 
Around the mouth are broken fragments of a church erected over the 
spot about the beginning of the fourth century, which is referred to by 
Eusebius, described by Jerome, and destroyed during the crusades. 

The vale of Shechem is full of water, " musical with streams," as 
McLeod says, and many have questioned as to why Jacob should have 
built a well here in a region of running waters. Porter, who spent 
so much time in, and wrote so much about the Holy Land, tells us that 
'*the very same question we might ask in every section of the plain of 
Damascus. Nowhere in Syria are running waters more abundant, and 
nowhere in Syria are wells more common. One acquainted with the 
East understands the mystery in a moment. Water is here the most 
precious of all commodities. Land is almost useless without it. It 
may serve for pasture; but the flocks that roam over it must have 
water. The soil may be fertile; but the fertility can only be fully 
developed by irrigation. Every proprietor, therefore, wishes to have 
a fountain or well of his own. A stream may run past or even 
through his field, and yet he dare not touch a drop of it. Jacob 
bought a field here; doubtless a section of the rich plain at the mouth 
©f the valley; but this gave him no title to the water of the neighbor- 
ing fountains. He therefore dug a well for himself in his own field; 
and indeed the field may have been bought chiefly with a view to the 
digging of a well. Every attentive reader of the Bible will observe 
that the patriarchs in wandering through Canaan had no difficulty 
about pasture; their herds and flocks were numerous, but the J^nd was 




SAMARITAN PRIEST. 



132 



RIP VAN WINKLE'S TRAVELS. 



wide, the inhabitants few, and the pasture was more than enough for 
all. But they had often serious difficulties and quarrels about water. 
The natives would not share their scanty supply with strangers, and 
they were thus compelled to dig wells for themselves; often at the 
risk of losing them. This is the case still in many parts of Syria. 
The pastures are free because they are plenty; the little wells and 
fountains are jealously guarded because they are few. In the Hauran, 
for instance, the vast flocks of the Bedawin are permitted to crop at will 
the rich pastures of Bashan; but the brave Druses will not let them 
near one of their little springs or reservoirs. Such was the origin of 
Jacob's Well." 

Near by the well is the tomb of Joseph, the son of the patriarch. 
When he died he foresaw that the time would come when the He- 
brews would go out of Egypt. He was aware of the promises made 
to Abraham, and could not endure the idea that when his father's 
family were reigning in the land of their salvation, his bones should 
lie amid the mounds and pyramids of pagan Egypt. So he com- 
manded that his bones should go with the tribes to their home in the 
land of promise. They were not unmindful of this request, but when 
they went out of Egypt they took his bones, and in all that weary jour- 
ney of forty years bore them up and down, never left them anywhere 
until they arrived in the Holy Land. And where could they put 
them — in what place so properly as in the soil watered by the well 
which his patriarchal father had made for himself and his family. 
The tomb is covered with a little wely, or chapel, unimposing and un- 
attractive in appearance. 

Evening had come, and turning our horses from this interesting 
locality, we drove up the vale to Nablous, a town built on the site and 
taking the place of Shechem. On our right was Mount Ebal, — the 
Mount of Cursing; on the left was Mount Gerizim, — Mount of 
Blessing. The former is a bold rugged mountain, that seems to frown 
upon every one that wanders along its base. Its top is crowned with 



IN SAMARIA. JO, 

£>iient ruins, and some have pretended to find there the remains of an 
altar built by Joshua. Mount Gerizim seems to smile in ever}- 
changing feature. There is an irresistible fascination about it, and the 
gaze of the traveller always turns to it with pleasure. On its summit 
the Samaritans celebrate the Passover, and the}' claim that here, and 
not on Mount Moriah, Abraham came to offer Isaac. 

We approach the city of Nablous, a place of eight thousand 
inhabitants. The streets are narrow, many of them arched, and the 
buildings have the appearance of great antiquity. We rode the 
whole length of the town. The people came out and scowled on us 
as we went by, and uttered all kinds of insulting epithets. There are 
a few Jews in the place, but Samaritans prevail largely, and the 
latter vie with the former in the hatred of Christians. We encamped 
in a grove of olives, some of them a thousand years old. We were 
surrounded all night by troops of dogs, and several times were 
obliged to go out and drive them away. We had some apprehension 
of an attack. We knew the character of the people, and were well 
on our guard. But no disturbance occurred, and we got through the 
night without any noteworthy incident. 

The sun was hardly up before we stole away very quietly, fearing 
a shower of stones or of more deadly missiles, avoiding the usual way 
of egress from the city. 

A ride of two hours brings us to Sebustia, the ancient city of 
Samaria, which in its day must have been one of the most magnifi- 
cent of cities. In the '^centre of a basin five miles in diameter, runs a 
flattish, oval-shaped hill to the extent of three hundred feet." On this 
hill the city of Samaria was built. The mound is terraced to its top, 
and rows of pillars, some of which still remain, show that the whole 
hill was formerly covered with elegant and elaborately wrought 
edifices. There are now about sixty houses and four hundred and 
fifty inhabitants in the village. The only building of any note is the 
church of St. John, built by the crusaders, to cover, it is said, the s]?ot 



l^A. ^^^ ^^-^ WINKLE'S TRAVELS. 

where John the Baptist was entombed after his martyrdom. The 
sepulchre is a little chamber excavated in the rock, and is gained by a 
descent of twenty-one steps. There is a tradition that John was 
beheaded here, and Jerome adopts it as a fact, and in the fifth century 
it was universally accepted. But Josephus says that John was 
beheaded in the Castle of Macherus, on the east side of the Dead Sea, 
and I do not know as the statement was contradicted until the fourth 
century. You may remember that in Micah there is a fearful 
prediction concerning this city. " I will make Samaria as an heap of 
the field, and as the planting of a vineyard; and I will pour down the 
stones thereof into the valley, and I will discover the foundations 
thereof" This terrible threat has been literally fulfilled. The very 
foundations of the city have been torn up, the pillars and capitals of 
the beautiful colonnades have been pitched over into the valley, and the 
whole place is literally "a heap." The entire hill is a mound of ruins. 
The village is almost inaccessible. Our horses panted as they 
clambered over the stones, or leaped the fallen pillars. The rude 
inhabitants were mostly absent, but enough remained at home to come 
out and stone us, and one or two of the company were obliged to 
draw their revolvers and drive them back. It was mournful to stand 
on this hill and look around upon the solitary columns rising here 
and there, so many mementoes of the past, — mementoes of a city 
which has had a large place in history — a city founded by Omri on 
this mound, which he bought for two talents of silver, about nine 
hundred pounds sterling; here Ahab built an altar to Baal; here 
Elijah and Elisha largely figured, and here, in the infancy of the 
church, Philip preached and gathered a congregation, to which Simon 
the Sorcerer belonged. We drove out of town amid the curses 
of the boys and women, down the rocky declivity, through the 
valley, by ruined villages, and picturesque ruins, until we reached the 
village Jeba, where, in a vineyard of vines and an orchard of figs, we 
lay down under the trees and slept for an hour. The ride from Jeba 



136 



RIP VAN WINKLE'S TRAVELS. 



was one of great interest, through a fertile country, over beautiful 
meadows, by fine old ruins, passing Jenin where much attention was 
shown us. We also saw the site of ancient Shiloh, famed in Bible 
history for the exploit of the Benjamites, whose wives had been 
destroyed, and who determined to make good their loss by stealing an 
equal number of the most beautiful women of Shiloh, and making 
them their wives. When the bereaved six hundred returned to 
their forsaken homes they had no women, which was a most serious 
misfortune in the rebuilding of their towns, and the repeopling of 
their villages. So they remembered that the people of Shiloh had an 
ancient feast, which was celebrated just outside of their city. At 
such times the daughters of Shiloh came out to dance in the vine- 
yards. In those times men and women did not dance together, and so 
the men remained behind. On this occasion, these Benjamites went 
and hid in the vineyards, and w^hen the girls of Shiloh came out to 
dance they sprang up, and caught one each, and hurried back to their 
town of Gibeah. We do not read that any stir was made about the 
abduction of the damsels. Their friends probably thought they 
might as well get married that way as any other, and made no effort 
to get them back again. 

Rip Van Winkle. 



IN JERUSALEM. 



m 



IN JERUSALEM. 




TEMPLE AREA AND MOUNT OF OLIVES. 



There was a great time among the boys when the letter of Rip 
Van Winkle from Jerusalem was received. More than the usual 
number of outside friends were invited into the meeting of the Trian- 
Sl'ie, and various services were performed before the letter was read. 
Among other things, the president called on Hal for a "declamation," 
and ine lad recited the following poem: — 

*' Not from Jerusalem alone 

To Heaven the path ascends ; 

As near, as sure, as straight the way 
That leads to the celestial day 
From farthest realms extends ; 
Frigid or torrid zone. 



loS RIP VAN IVIXKLE'S TRAVELS. 

" What matters how or when we start ? 
One is the crown to all ; 

One is the hard but glorious race, 
Whatever be our starting-place ; 
Rings round the earth the call 
That says, Arise, depart ! 

*' From the balm-breathing, sun-loved isles 
Of the bright Southern sea. 

From the dead North's cloud-shadowed pole. 
We gather to one gladsome goal — 
One common home in thee, 
City of sun and smiles ! 

" The cold rough billow hinders none. 
Nor helps the calm fair main ; 

The brown rock of Norwegian gloom, 
The verdure of Tahitian gloom, 
The sands of Misraim's plain, 
Or peaks of Lebanon. 

*'As from the green lands of the vine, 
So from the snow-wastes pale 
We find the ever open road 
To the dear city of our God ; 
From Russian steppe, or Burman vale, 
Or terraced Palestine. 

" Not from Jerusalem alone 

The Church ascends to God ; 

Strangers of every tongue and clime. 
Pilgrims of every land and time. 
Throng the well-trodden road 
That leads up to the throne." 

After the recitation, and a song about Jerusalem, the letter of the 
master was opened and read. 

Jerusalem. 

The round red Syrian sun was 3'et high in the heavens when our 
little cavalcade passed over the hills and approached the city of 
Jerusalem. Eager indeed were the expectations of the little company, 
and each one was striving to be the first to catch in the distance some 
outline of the place. At length we reached the summit of a hill, 



IN JERUSALEM. 



139 



from which we c-ould obtain a view of the city — the city of David, 
the city of Jesus, the city of God. There it lay full before us, an ob- 
ject of untold and indescribable interest. It was one of the happiest 
moments of my life. The trials and dangers of the way were 
forgotten; the cold shiver gave way to a thrill of exultation. Every 
pulse bounded, every nerve w^as keenly alive. There across the 
valley was Jerusalem, — its walls, its towers, its Zion, its ISIoriah, its 
Calvary. We were on one of the spurs of Gihon, the valley at our 
feet. Never before did I realize the force of the v/ords of the psalm- 
ist, ^'Beautiful for situation, the joy of the whole earth is Mount Zion, 
on the sides of the North, the city of the great king." Never could I 
say before, with such enthusiasm and such emotion, '^ Peace be 
within thy walls, and prosperity within thy palaces." Longingly and 
lovingly we looked over to the sacred city, shouting, "Our feet shall 
stand within thy gates, O Jerusalem." And as we stood there, gazing 
over, the sun came out, the clouds rolled away, and Jerusalem lay 
blazing in the splendor of the closing day. 

After viewing the city for a time, and reading several passages of 
scripture, and allowing our feelings to have their tender sacred flow, 
we rode to our tents, which were pitched in an olive vineyard outside 
of the city, not far from the Jaffa gate. 

Let me give you a description of the camp. Our party, which 
was small at first, had increased to ten. To accommodate these 
persons we had one fine marquee, and three smaller tents. Five 
of us occupied the larger tent, and the others were accommo- 
dated in two of the smaller tents, w^hile the other was devoted to 
the use of the cook. We had five iron camp bedsteads, with 
plenty of clothing. On pitching the tents in any place, a large 
carpet w^as spread on the ground and the table placed upon it, if 
pleasant, in the open air, if unpleasant, in the marquee. A table 
service of silver made the board look well, while our food was of the 
best kind, consisting of meats and fowl of all kinds, vegetables and 



140 



RIP VAN WINKLE 'S TRA VELS. 



US at the table. 



fruit in great profusion. Our attendants consisted of our drago- 
man,- our cook, — and a better could not be found in Europe; 
and Halllle, a Nubian, pretty as a girl, black as a coal, and smiling 
as May day. He was the man-of-all-work, and waited upon 
Besides these we had several muleteers, who took 

care of the mules and 
horses. Twenty-five ani- 
mals, and nearly as many 
men, made up the caravan. 
At night, the mules and 
horses would be tied about 
the camp, and the muleteers 
would sleep around them 
for protection. Any party 
attacking the camp would 
be obliged to arouse the 
muleteers, who were our 
picket guard. Whatever 
tent life might have been 
to our brave soldiers on the 
Potomac, it was certainly 
very pleasant to us in Pal- 
estine. However, we did 
not sleep in our camp that 
night. The tents were wet, 
and ourselves chilled by the 




STREET IN JERUSALEM. 



long ride through the storm, so we repaired to a Latin convent just 
inside the walls, where we remained that night. 

And now we are at Jerusalem! But what can we do with it in 
the limits of a single letter? It is a city which might well demand a 
volume rather than the communication of an hour. To make myself 
as intelligible as possible to you, I propose, before describing the city 



IN JERUSALEM. 



141 



itself, to notice its environs. Let us walk about Zion, and mark the 
towers thereof. 

We started on Saturday morning, the Jewish sabbath, to walk 
around Jerusalem, outside the walls. It was a beautiful day, and 
Nature was in all the loveliness of the season. Leaving our camp, 
we moved down into the valley of Gihon, by the Upper Pool, over 
Fuller's Field, to the Lower Pool. The latter is now a cultivated 
garden, and fig-trees are growing in it. In the time of Christ it was 
a vast reservoir to supply the city with water. Leaving the pools, we 
soon struck the remains of the old aqueducts made by Solomon to 
introduce water from Bethlehem into his capital. These works show 
the immense expense of furnishing water to the city, and indicate an 
elaboration of means to make this supply which is truly wonderful to 
us. Moving slowly along the south of the place, we struck the 
Valley of Hinnom. This is a deep ravine, separating the city from 
the Mount of Offence and the Hill of Evil Counsel. It has a most 
unenviable notoriety. It comes to our notice in the first book of 
Kings as the place where Solomon, in his apostacy, set up an image 
of Moloch and made the people bow down and worship, for which 
crime the kingdom of Israel revolted from his house and family. 
From that time it was a place of idolatry. Ahaz and Manasseh there 
made their children to " pass through the fire," and led their people 
to practice abominable wickedness. At the end of the valley is 
Tophet, where infants were sacrificed to Moloch, and some have sup- 
posed that its very name was derived from certain coarse instruments 
of wirfe used there to draw the corpses of the poor victims as they 
passed through the fire to the idol. Josiah changed the character of 
the place from the worship of idols to a scene of pollution, making 
the valley the cesspool of the city, throwing in filth and burying the 
dead bodies of lepers that had been cast into it. The Jews and early 
Christians used the place to represent the state of eternal punishment. 
Across the valley of Hinnom is the " Hill of Evil Counsel." It is so 



J42 RIP VAN WINKLE'S TRAVELS. 

called because the house of Caiaphas was located upon it, and there 
the wicked Jews assembled to take counsel against the blessed 
Saviour. The hill rises about five hundred feet above the valley 
below, and its top contains the ruins of an old convent, which dates 
back to the time of the crusades. 

Near here is the famous or infamous Aceldama, or " Field of 
Blood," a deep cavern, or series of caverns, still used for burial 
purposes. It is on the southern slope of the valley of Hinnom. It is 
a place of bones and skulls. It was bought of a potter with the thirty 
pieces of silver which Judas received for the betrayal of Christ. A 
look down into the dens of death made us wish to leave the place and 
hurry away. All the waters in the Pool of Hezekiah would not wash 
out its stains. 

Soon we came upon the Mou a^ of Offence, or Mount of Corrup- 
tion, Mount of Scandal as it is sometimes called. Here Solomon 
gave himself up to idol worship, and here offended a holy God, who 
will not tolerate idolatry. As long as this hill stands it will be a solemn 
remonstrance against the offence which that wise king committed. 

Walking on, we struck a little rill which arrested attention. This 
was a stream of water from the Pool of Siloam, in the Tyropean 
valley. Following up the rill we soon came to the pool, which re- 
ceives its waters from the "Fountain of the Virgin," at a little 
distance. There are several reasons why this charming water should 
be called the "Fountain of the Virgin." One tradition states that the 
Virgin Mary was accustomed to resort to this place for the purposes 
of purification, and hence in time it took its name from her. Another 
tradition, vouched for by Mejr-ed-Din, states that the water was 
known formerly as the Fountain of the Accused Woman, and it was 
deemed a test for women accused of great sin. If the person was 
innocent, she would drink without harm, and wonderful beauty was 
the result. But if she was guilty, she died, ere the sun set, of a most 
horrid, loathsome disease. When the Virgin Mary was accused of 



144 



RIP VAN WINKLE'S TRAVELS. 



crime she was brought here, subjected to the ordeal, drank the water 
harmlessly, and ever after was gifted with a wonderful purity of ex- 
pression, and secured the reputation among all her countrywomen of 
a saint. 

The chief peculiarity of the fountain is its intermittent character. 
Whence its waters come, and why their flow should be intermit- 
tent, is only a matter of conjecture. They rush "furiously like a 
mountain torrent for twenty or thirty minutes, then intermitting for an 
hour or two, and in dry weather for a day or two." The Arabs 
account for this peculiarity by saying that an amphibious animal has 
charge of the waters, and their theory is that this dragon lives within 
the fountain. If he is awake, the water does not flow; but when he 
sleeps and cannot control it, it bubbles up. But men of science 
attribute the phenomenon to " the natural action of a syphon-shaped 
reservoir in the heart of the mountain." I am thus minute in the 
description of this fountain because it supplies Siloam, which is an 
oblong tank or reservoir, fifty-four feet in length, eighteen feet wide, 
and twenty feet deep. The remains of the porticos, which were once 
very beautiful structures, sheltering the multitudes who came to use 
the waters, are still seen. The pool was once probably covered with 
a roof, and in its day was elaborate and elegant. The fact that 
Siloam receives its waters from the Fountain of the Virgin, which I 
believe to be identical with ancient Bethesda, gives to it its name 
Siloam — signifying "sent." 

Striking off" from the objects on which we have commented, we 
enter the Valley of Jehosaphat, — "God judgeth," — which divides 
Jerusalem from the Mount of Olives, on the east. The brook Kedron 
flows through the valley, sometimes a tiny stream and sometimes a 
rushing torrent. We are soon among the ancient tombs — the tomb 
of St. James, a chamber excavated in the cliff", with its covered door- 
way, its elegant porch, and its sepulchral openings; the tomb of 
Zachariah, who was stoned in the reign of Joash, a monolith, solid ir 



IN JERUSALEM. 



H5 



its contents, and beautifully ornamented from its rubbish-covered base 
to its pyramidal summit; the tomb of Jehosaphat, in which, a few 
years since, was found a Hebrew manuscript of the Pentateuch, the 
cloisters of which are now nearly filled with filth and rubbish; the 
tomb of Absalom, twenty-two feet square and fifty feet high, which 
has been filled wath stones cast on it by the Jews, who spit upon it 
and curse it in memory of Absalom's ingratitude and treason. And 
many other ancient tombs there are, all worth seeing, and each of 
which has a history, but we 
must pass them by for want of 
space in this letter. 

Still keeping on through the 
valley of Jehosaphat, we come 
to that sacred spot — the Garden 
of Gethsemane. In the time of 
Christ, the Garden of Geth- 
semane covered the whole base 
of Olivet; but a lot about three 
hundred feet square has been 
enclosed, to preserve the trees 
and to afford a retreat for devout 
strangers. Within the wall is 
a walk around the garden, which is enclosed with a pale-fence. 
There are eight olive-trees in the garden, indicating a great age; and 
flowers and vines abound. The Latins have the charge of the place, 
and strangers are admitted for backsheesh. We went to the gate and 
were admitted by a monk, and stood on the very spot where Christ 
fell down, sweating great drops of blood. A clergyman of our party 
read the scripture narrative of the terrible agony which Christ en- 
dured in tlat place, and then we all knelt on the ground in prayer. 
It was awful to pra}^ in that place. There came rushing on us the 
particulars of that scene, which no pen has j^et attempted to descriDe. 




TOMB OF ABSALOM. 



lO 



146 



RIP VAN WINKLE'S TRAVELS. 



It was one of the sweetest and most tender hours in my life. I closed 
my eyes, and soon my senses were all asleep to the world around me. 
I had gone back eighteen hundred years. I was in sad Gethsemane. 
I heard the groaning Lord as he lay upon the ground. I caught the 
memory of that tremendous agony. I saw the blood-sweat fall to the 
ground. I saw the angels as they came to strengthen him. And 
when I opened my eyes again it seemed as if my soul had received a 
shock, a jar, as when one is suddenly, roughly awakened from a 
charming dream. 

Walking rapidly back to our tents completed the circuit of Jeru- 
salem. We had seen the walls, passed the various gates, beheld the 
people as they went in and out, and had a fine idea of the surround- 
ings of the city of God. 

We are now prepared to enter the gates and see the interior of 
Jerusalem. There is generally a feeling of disappointment on the 
part of those who visit the city, and we felt it. We went in one 
morning, entering at the Jaffa gate. On each side of the gate out- 
side was a long line of lepers, — men, women, and children, — their 
bodies in the various stages of decomposition. Their emaciated 
hands were held out for charity, and piteous indeed was the spectacle 
which they presented. Formerly this class of persons was driven 
away to the Lazar city, but they are now allowed to sit at the 
entrances of the city, begging of all who go in or out. 

The streets within the place are narrow, irregular, crooked, and 
untidy. The houses are generally mean, low, and gloomy looking. 
The people, with a few exceptions, indicate poverty and sorrow, and 
the stranger, as he travels from one object of interest to another, can- 
not fail to see that God has marked with his divine curse the city 
where His son was neglected and crucified. 

The city is elevated above all the surrounding region, being 
twenty-two hundred feet above the level of the sea. But beyond the 
valleys rise the mountains, which seem to guard the city. On the 



148 



RIP VAN WINKLE'S TRAVELS. 



east is the triple-topped Mount of Olives, its terraced sides rising 
steeply from the Valley of Jehosaphat. On the south is the so-called 
Hill of Evil Counsel, overhanging the vv^ild ravine of Hinnom. On 
the west, the ground ascends by rocky acclivities to the brov^ of 
Wady Beit Hanina. On the north is the hill of Scopus, a western 
projection of the ridge of Olivet. Around the city runs a wall, 
sufficient for the purpose for which it was erected, but entirely unfit 
to stand a discharge of artillery. The circumference of the walls is 
but twelve thousand nine hundred and seventy-eight feet, — four 
thousand three hundred and twenty-six yards, — or about two and a 
half miles. These walls are pierced by five gates, — the Joppa Gate, 
the Damascus Gate, the St. Stephen's Gate, the Dung Gate, the 
Zion Gate. Besides these gates, which are now in use, are two 
others that have long been closed, — the Gate of Flowers and the 
Golden Gate. The shops of the city are mean and filthy, the houses 
wretched and uncomely, and the whole appearance of the place is 
that of barbarous desolation. The present population is about sixteen 
thousand; of whom six thousand are Jews, six thousand Moslems, two 
thousand Greeks, and two thousand are made up of other sects. 

The first building within the gates is the tower of Hippicus, of 
which Josephus tells us that " it was built by Herod the Great, and 
named after a friend who had fallen in battle. The form is quadran- 
gular, twenty-five cubits on each side, and built up entirely solid to 
the height of thirty cubits. Over this solid part was a large cistern, 
and still higher were chambers for the guards, surmounted by battle- 
ments. The stones in its w^alls were of enormous magnitude, — 
twenty cubits long, by ten broad, and five high. Its situation, too, 
was commanding; for it stood on a rocky crest which rose from the 
summit of Zion to a height of fifty cubits." Of one of the towers 
which still stands, the others being in a crumbling condition, Porter 
remarks that "the lower part is built of huge bevelled stones, meas- 
uring from nine to thirteen feet in length, and some of them more 



IN JERUSALEM. j^g 

than four feet high; the upper part is modern, and does not differ in 
appearance or workmanship from the other towers. The height of 
the antique part above the present level of the fosse is forty feet. It 
is entirely solid, and recent excavations have shown that for some 
height above the foundation it is formed of the natural rock, hewn 
into shapo or faced with stones." 

Leaving the tower behind, you strike into Via Dolorosa, the long, 
narrow street which led out from the judgment-hall of Pilate, through 
which Christ passed on his way to execution. The monks have 
invested almost every step in this street with interest, for they have 
attached some legend to almost every foot of it. The first object of 
interest in the street is the "Church of the Flagellation," where it is 
said that Christ was beaten with rods. Still further on is an arch 
spanning the way, Ecce Homo, where it is said that the cowardly 
Roman governor brought forth the Redeemer and showed him to the 
people, saying, " Behold the man." Then we reach a place where, 
as Christ passed along, he leaned against a house for protection, leav- 
ing the impression of his shoulder in the wall. There is pointed out 
another spot, where Christ met his mother, and held with her a tender 
and last interview. Next we come to the house of Dives; and there 
are Greek priests who will show you the very stone on which sat 
Lazarus, covered with sores, begging for bread. Just the place where 
Christ fainted under the cross comes next, and where it was taken 
from his shoulders and laid upon Simon the Cyrenean. Then you 
will be shewn the place where, after he had recovered, he turned on 
the weeping w^omen of Israel, saying, "Weep not for me, but for 
yourselves and your children." And there, too, is the hctuse from 
which Veronica came forth, and wiped the gory face of Christ with 
the handkerchief, which is now preserved with great reverence 
and care at Rome. 

Via Dolorosa conducts to the Church of the Holy Sepulchre, one 
of the chief attractions of Jerusalem. It was commenced in 1048, 



^i)0 



RIP VAN WINKLE'S TJiAVELS. 




CHURCH OF THE HOLY SEPULCHRE. 



and was never finished until 1810. It is supposed to stand over the 
spot where Christ was crucified and buried. It is a tasteless Roman- 
esque edifice, and in itself of no interest. The fact that it stands on 
Calvary gives it its importance. 



IN JERUSALEM, I c j 

And here allow me to say that there is some dispute as to where 
Calvary is. Some say here, and others point out locations elsewhere. 
The traditionary account of the exact spot where the cross stood is 
said to be this: The Empress Helena, mother of Constantine, was 
directed by God to search for the true cross, the spot where it stood, 
and the tomb of the Saviour. At the age of seventy-nine she entered 
on her mission. The pagans had buried the cross, and built a heathen 
temple on the spot where it stood on the day of crucifixion. But the 
empress went to her holy work, at length found the crosses, but for a 
time could not distinguish which was the one on which Christ died. 
At length they were submitted to a test. They were taken to a 
Christian woman who was dying in Jerusalem. The first and second 
were presented to her without effect, but when the third came it 
restored her to instant health. 

It may be asked, what are the evidences that the place selected is 
the real Calvary. Dr. Robinson says it is not. Others, as careful 
and as able, say it is. Certain it is, that as early as the year 326 this 
site had been selected. The Apostle John, who witnessed the cruci- 
fixion, or knew all the facts pertaining to it, lived nearly seventy 
years afterward, and many others who were present at the tragedy, 
must have carried the knowledge of the place forward nearly a cen- 
tury; so that it seems to me that it would have been impossible for 
Constantine or his empress mother to have made any mistake. The 
knowledge of the exact spot must have been transmitted from the 
thousands who saw the deed committed to their children and grand- 
children; and had the emperor fixed upon a site a mile or two miles 
from the place where the event transpired, a thousand voices would 
have been heard stating the traditions which had been handed down 
to them. The early Church could hardly have failed to know all 
about this great transaction, on which so much was depending. They 
must often have referred to the place where the Lord was put tc 
death, and the spot must have been as familiar to them as the Garden 



jq2 I^IP VAN WINKLE'S TRAVELS. 

of Gethsemane or Mount ZIon. It can hardly be supposed that fiom 
the death of John to the time of Constantine the spot where the Lord 
was put to death for the world could have been forgotten. Nor do 
we know of anything in the scriptural representation, the topograph- 
ical argument, and the historical account which may not be recon- 
ciled with known or existing facts. Without, however, expressing a 
definite opinion, where men who have spent so much time in Jerusa- 
lem and who have given the subject so much attention differ widely, 
let us conclude that we are near the mount of martyrdom, and the 
sepulchre of the Son of Man. Eusebius was born in the year 264, 
only about one hundred and sixty-four years from the death of 
the Apostle John, and he adopted the commonly accepted sacred 
localities without a question or a doubt as to their identity. He 
was present at the dedication of the Martyron erected by Constan- 
tine, and delivered a discourse, and must have been familiar with 
all the steps taken by the emperor and his gifted mother in their 
investigations. 

Various things are shown in the Church of the Sepulchre, — the 
Stone of Unction, on which the body of the Saviour was laid while 
being anointed for burial ; the spot where his mother stood during that 
process, indicated in the floor by a colored marble, an iron cage, 
lighted by an ever-burning lamp, covering the spot; the stone on 
which the angel sat when he had rolled it away from the door of the 
sepulchre; the stony, sepulchral slab on which Christ rested three 
days while the toml held him; the vault itself where the King of 
kings wrestled with the King of Terrors. Then, in a little chapel 
we find a fragment of the pillar to which Christ was bound when he 
was scourged. Pilgrims touch the pillar with a rod, and then kiss 
the rod. Then comes the prison where Jesus was confined before his 
death, and the mount itself — Calvary, which is crowned with 
marbles, which are laid open so that the places where the thre/* 
crosses are said to have been set in the rock, are seen. 



/.\- JERUSALEM. 



153 






~^an^^'r((^"^ 



')oK\'^ 




STONE OF UNCTION. 



All these places are near together, and one comes away with a 
confused and mixed idea of the whole thing. And yet here, doubt- 
less, Christ was crucified! Here he was laid in the sepulchre! Here 
he rose from the dead! It would be mockery to attempt to tell how 



ve^ R^^ ^'^^ WINKLE'S TRAVELS. 

one feels when reaching down and touching with his hand the cold, 
wet earth, where it is supposed the cross stood. The very ground 
seems damp with blood. The rock seems to tremble yet as if it felt 
the shiver of the earthquake which shook it eighteen hundred years 
ago! It would be mockery to attempt any description of the emotions 
which surge over you as you crowd into the sepulchre, about seven 
feet square, and on your bended knees bow your head down upon the 
stony couch, and weep in memory of him who once reposed there in 
death, remembering that in this little cell Christ had his last conflict, 
here trampled death beneath his feet! 

Another day in Jerusalem is given to the Temple, — alas, the 
temple of God no longer! At eany dawn we left our camp to see 
the pavements and broken stones <)i what was once the finest edifice 
on the globe. As the Bible student knows, the first edifice was 
planned by God, the materials gathered by David, and the foundation 
laid by Solomon, B.C. loii, on the threshing-floor of Oman the 
Jebusite, on the summit of Mount Moriah. For seven years the 
workmen labored upon it, but no sound of the hammer was heard 
during all that period. 

The building was all framed together, part fitted to part, before 
being brought here. For four hundred and twenty years the struct- 
ure stood, the wonder of the world, when it was destroyed by 
Nebuchadnezzar, king of Babylon. The second Temple was built by 
Zerubbabel, B.C. 534, on the ruins of the first, but without much of 
the former glory. Antiochus Epiphanes polluted it, and set up the 
image of Jupiter Olympus on its grand altar. Judas Maccabaeus 
purified and repaired it; but time and war wasted it again, until the 
time of Herod the Great, who repaired it with great magnificence. 
The structure covered the whole top of Mount Moriah, which had 
been walled up all around so as to give ample space. The structure 
stood until after the crucifixion, and was at length destroyed b}^ Titus, 
by a singular coincidence, or rather a striking providence, on the 



IN JERUSALEM. 



155 



same day of the same month that the first Temple was destroyed by 
the Chaldeans. 

When the Turks came into possession of the holy city, they built 
vipon the old foundations of the Temple the Mosque of Omar. It 
costs five dollars to each person as an entrance fee, and we were 
obliged to wander about the premises with our shoes off, and as it 
had rained the night before, and the water stood in puddles upon 
the worn and broken pavements, the exercise was by no means 
agreeable. 

Would you understand how the Temple area appears at the 
present time.^ Imagine a hilltop levelled down, and the sides walled 
up, forming an area or s(|uare of about six hundred feet on each side. 
A wall, thick and massive, rises round it, while it is paved within 
with large, flat stones, which are moss-grown, broken, and defaced. 
In the centre of this area, where once stood the Temple, stands the 
Mosque of Omar, an octagonal building, each face of which is sixty- 
six feet. The edifice is one hundred and seventy-five feet high, 
surmounted by an elaborate and elegant dome. The interior is very 
imposing and beautiful, though the interiors of all the mosques are 
cheerless on account of their want of furniture. 

The most conspicuous object in the mosque is the Sakhrah, or 
sacred rock. It seems that when the flinty top of Mount Moriah was 
graded down, this rock, some fifty by forty feet in dimensions and ten 
feet high, was left in its natural state, with no marks of the chisel 
upon it. The traditionary account was that on this rock Abraham 
built the altar on which his son Isaac was laid; that on it David offered 
his sacrifices before the Temple was erected; and that afterward 
it became the grand altar of the Jewish nation. The Mohammedans 
think that from this rock their great prophet ascended to Paradise. 
They even say that the mark of his foot is still upon it, though the} 
do not often show it. 

There is not much remaining of the old Jewish Temple. These 



156 



RIP VAN WINKLE'S TRAVELS. 




ST. STEPHEN S GATE. 



time-beaten paths, the foundations, and some subterranean passages are 
all that are left. The word of God is fulfilled. The prediction of Christ 
was verified. All that stood above the ground at the time the Redeemer 
lived was tumbled down — not one stone being left upon another. 



IN JERUSALEM. 



157 



No Jew is allowed to enter the Temple area, but there is a place 
in the Tyropean Valley where the western foundation of the earliest 
house of God is exposed to view. To this place the Hebrews come 
every Friday to moan and wail. The sight is a very touching one. 
From one hundred to five hundred Jews assemble, and as they read 
the Lamentations of Jeremiah they swing backward and forward, bow 
and wail; and then go again and again to kiss the stones. So 
long have they done this, and so passionate have been their kisses, 
that for a considerable distance the coarse, rough stones have been 
smoothed and polished by the lips of these devotees. I read from 
my Bible while the Jews read from theirs, and then went with them 
and kissed the stones, thinking of Him who saw the Temple and 
predicted its destruction, who now is the light and glory of the 
heavenly temple. 

The question has often been asked, " What has become of the 
sacred vessels, and the immense wealth of Jerusalem.^ " It can hardly 
be supposed that God would allow all the sacred vessels to be 
forever ruined, and the general impression has been that the Jews, 
when the Roman armies came upon them, hid the Ark of the 
Covenant, the holy things of the Temple, and much that pertained to 
Jewish worship, and at some time, when God is ready, they will be 
found and be brought forth, to the joy and wonder of the ages. They 
are probably somewhere beneath the Temple, or some of the public 
edifices, and when the archaeologists get at work they will bring them 
up. Dr. Barclay, who has written well on Jerusalem, and whose 
acquaintance we were fortunate enough to make at Jaffa, says that, 
" It is a very general belief that amongst the spoils of the Temple 
carried to Rome by Titus were the identical candlestick, golden altar 
and table, the silver trumpets, etc., that had been provided by 
Solomon; but this is a great mistake. Such of this furniture as was 
brought back from Babylon by the Jews on returning from captivity 
was carried to Antioch by Antiochus Epiphanes, when he despoiled 



158 



RIP VAN WINKLE'S TRAVELS. 



Jerusalem, and emptied the Temple of its secret treasures and left 
nothing at all remaining.' The sacred trophies carried away by Titus 
were those with which the Holy House was furnished by Judas 
Maccabeus on purifying the Temple after its profanation and 
desertion. On reaching Rome, the golden vesels and other sacred 
implements were deposited in the temple of Concord; and although 
some of them may have fallen a prey to the devouring element when 
that temple was destroyed, A. D. 191, yet history distinctly informs us 
that they fell into the hands of Alaric, when he sacked the city, 
A. D. 410. And about half a century afterwards most or all of them 
appear to have been carried to Carthage by Genseric, king of the 
Vandals, when the city fell into his ruthless hands, but seem to 
have been returned to Rome, or at least recovered by the Romans, 
after the victory of Belisarius. There appear to be reliable notices of 
them both at Ravenna and at Constantinople afterwards; and tradition, 
at least, reports that they were finally restored to Jerusalem by the 
Emperor Justinian, and it is supposed by many that they still lie 
concealed in some of the secret subterranean recesses of the Temple 
Mount." 

There is one picture to be painted before we leave our subject and 
close our present letter. We must go out and view the Mount 
of Olives, " over against the Temple." American travellers gen- 
erally go out on Sabbath afternoon, and cross Mount Olivet, as far as 
Bethany. And no walk on earth can be more suggestive of pious 
thoughts. It is the walk that Christ used to take when he sojourned 
on earth. Over the mountain, in a little town that nestled close to the 
brow of the hill, lived some of his friends. Here dwelt Lazarus, whom 
he raised from the dead, and Mary who sat at his feet, and Martha 
who loved to entertain him at her hospitable board. For this family, 
Christ seemed to entertain a special fondness. He loved their society, 
and often when weary went over the hill to take his evening meal in 
their ever-cheerful home. 



IN JERUSALEM. 



159 



I went out one Sabbath afternoon. The Jews in the cit}' were all 
Sjusy, for their holy day had passed, but outside all was still. Only the 
song of the bird, and the hum of the insects, and the rustling of the 
grain, disturbed the silence. I went down into the valley of Jehosa- 
phat, through the bed of Kedron, to the base of Olivet, and struck into 
the very road which we suppose Christ took when he went out 
to visit his friends. Passing by the Garden of Gethsemane, I 
was soon ascending the hill. But here pause in the way while I 
describe the Mount of Olives. Sit down on the ground by the 
wayside, or rest on the stones, while I make your minds familiar with 
this hill which we are ascending. 

Olivet is on the east of Jerusalem, and separated from it by 
the brook Kedron. It is not a Mount Washington, towerinsf to the 
clouds, and covered with its crown of snow, nor even a Monadnoc, 
lofty in its verdant pride. It is a respectable hill, or a ridge of hills, 
rather than one solitary mount, only one hundred and seventy-five feet 
above the city, and but half a mile from it. On the centre hill is the 
little village of Tur, which has one tapering minaret, and beneath that 
minaret is the Church of the Ascension, built, it is supposed, on the 
spot from which our Lord went up to glory. The hill is sparsely 
covered with olive-trees, and streaked with roads and foot-paths 
leading over or winding around it. 

We reach the summit, and ascending to the gallery of the minaret 
look off upon Jerusalem spread out before the eye. "We look down," 
says an eyewitness, "the shelving side of Olivet into the dark, bare 
glen of the Kedron, sweeping from the distance on the right away 
down to the left. The eye follows it till it is joined by another dark 
ravine, coming in from behind a high ridge to the westward. That 
ravine is Hinnom, and that ridge Zion. On the left bank of the 
Kedron we can just observe through the olive-trees the white pointed 
top of Absalom's pillar, and the flat gravestones of the Jewish 
cemetery, and farther to the left the gray excavated cliffs and house« 



i6o 



RIP VAN WINKLE'S TEA VELS. 



of Siloam. In the foreground beyond the ravine is the beautiful 
enclosure of the Haram — the octagonal mosque with its noble dome 
in the centre, occupying the site of Oman's threshing-floor and 











mm 




JERUSALEM AND THE MOUNT OF OLIVES. 



Solomon's Temple; the flagged platform around it; and then a grassy 
area with its olives and cypresses encircling the whole. At the left- 
hand extremity is the mosque el-A.ksa, easily distinguished by its 



IN JERUSALEM. j5j 

peaked roofs and dome — formerly the church of St. Mary. Beside 
the enclosure at the right-hand corner is a prominent group of build- 
ings, with a tall minaret adjoining them. This is the pasha's residence, 
and the site of the Fortress of Antonia. The massive ancient masonry 
at the southern angle of the wall is very conspicuous; and so like- 
wise is the double-arched gateway in the side, generally known as the 
' Golden Gate,' now walled up. Farther to the right, north of the 
Haram area, is St. Stephen's Gate, and the white path winding up to 
it from the bottom of the Kedron at the Garden of Gethsemane. 
Northward of the gate, along the brow of the valley, runs the 
city wall, formidable-looking in the distance with its square towers. 
To the right of the Haram, a broad irregular ridge extends north- 
ward, thinly inhabited, interspersed with gardens, and crowned by a 
mosque and minaret. This is Bezetha. The low ridge of Ophel is 
on the opposite side of the' Haram, sinking down rapidly into the bed 
of the Kedron behind Siloqm; it contains no buildings, but is thickly 
sprinkled with olives. It can now be seen how these three hills, 
Bezetha, Moriah, and Ophel, form one long ridge. Behind them is a 
valley, dividing the city from north to south, and falling into the 
Kedron just above its junction with Hinnom." 

Turning from the view toward Jerusalem, we look out in the other 
direction. " Here we stand," says the same observer, " on the very 
brow of the mount. The ' Wilderness of Judea ' commences at our 
feet, shelves down in a succession of naked white hills and dreary 
gray glens for ten miles or more, and then dips abruptly into the deep 
valley of the Jordan. A scene of sterner desolation could not be 
imagined. The Jordan valley comes from the distance on the north, 
gradually expanding into a white plain, and terminating at the Dead 
Sea, a section of whose waters is seen over the lower cliffs of the 
' Wilderness.' The winding course of the Jordan can be traced for 
some distance up the plain, by its dark line of verdure. Away 
beyond this long valley rises suddenly a long unbroken mountain* 

11 



l52 R^P VAN WINKLE'S TRAVELS. 

range, like a huge wall, stretching north and south far as the eye can 
follow it. The section on the right is within the territory of Moab; 
that in the centre, directly opposite us, was possessed by the Ammon- 
ites; while that on the left hand was anciently called Gilead, and 
still retains its name. Evening is the proper time for this view, for 
then the pale blue lights and purple shadows on the Moab mountains 
are exquisitely beautiful. The glare too of the white wilderness is 
subdued; and the deep valley below appears still deeper from being 
thrown into shade." 

We cross over the mountain, and reach Bethany, on the hillside. 
Here lived the family that Jesus loved. The house in which they 
once abode is pointed out, and the tomb of Lazarus is also shown, but 
the identity of both is very doubtful. Returning, we reach the 
summit, pass around the Church of Ascension, and descend by a 
different road from that we took in coming up. A sudden turn in the 
road brings the city to our view. Until now it had been hidden. As 
it bursts upon us we stop, and in wonder and amazement gaze 
out upon it. 

We remember a scene that once transpired here. Christ was 
crossing the Mount, and a great multitude of people were with 
him. They wanted to take him to the city and crown him as their 
king. They shouted, " Hosannah, hosannah to the Son of David." 
But as Christ turned this point in the road, and the city burst upon 
him, he stood still and wept — wept that Jerusalem knew not her day. 
Singular and precious were my thoughts that Sabbath evening as I sat 
in the door of my tent, looking on Jerusalem on one side and on 
Olivet on the other. 

Did space allow we might dwell long in describing the scenes in 
and about the city; the walls and the gates, the Castle of Antonia, the 
room where the Lord's Supper is supposed to have been instituted^ 
the fountains and pools, the tombs and monuments, but our space is 
exhausted, and I must stop writing. Many are never permitted 



IN JERUSALEM. jg, 

to see the earthly Jerusalem. Few people are so situated that 
they can travel so far, even to see the place where the Lord was 
crucified. 

"Jerusalem — far distant land — 
Our longing feet can never stand 

Upon those far-off hills. 
We know these deep and yearning thoughts 
To see those consecrated spots, 

Can never be fulfilled. 

" Yet day by day our feet draw near 
A land that to our soul is dear — 

The New Jerusalem ; 
Its gates of pearl, its golden wall, 
God's glory shining o'er it all, 

The Lamb the light thereof. 

** And oft on wings of earnest prayer, 
Our soul draws near that land so fair, 
And views its Heavenly Home; ; 
And as we gaze towards Zion's hill, 
Its fair foundations glisten still, 
With minaret and dome. 

" Sometimes our souls in saddened hours 
Feel the soft touch of friends of ours, 

Who long since went to dust ; 
Then, dim and undefined, it seems 
Like the soft rays of sunset gleams. 

That land comes down to us. 

" Not over ocean's heaviest breast, 
Or toilsome days of dark unrest, 

Shall we that city see ; 
But soft we pass through quiet death, 
With calm repose and fleeting breath — 

Jerusalem, to thee." 

Yes, that upper Jerusalem we may visit, within its walls we may 
dwell, all its joys we may share. Jerusalem the golden! In old 
Jerusalem Christ was mocked and denied. In the new Jerusalem 



164 



RIP VAN WINKLE'S TRAVELS, 



he is honored and worshipped. In old Jerusalem he was crowned 
with thorns. In new Jerusalem he is crowned with glory. In oid 
Jerusalem he was crucified. In new Jerusalem he is enthroned. 
Jerusalem the golden I 

Rjp Van Winkle. 



IN JERICHO. 



165 



IN JERICHO. 




ELISHA S FOUNTAIN. 



Early one morning, Rip Van Winkle was aroused by one of hia 
friends, who came to the door of the tent, shouting, — 

"Professor! Professor!" 

"What is it?" 

"Why, get up and see, good friend." 

" It is not time to get up yet." 

"Yes, it is; and you are wanted." 

"What for?" 

"The party are out in the valley holding a council of war." 

" Is the enemy in sight ? " 

" No." 

"Then what is it?" 

" The subject of a visit to Jericho, the Jordan, the Dead Sea, 
aPv the South, is contemplated, and the matter is being discussed." 



1(35 ^^P ^A^ WINKLE'S TRAVELS. 

"Well, let them discuss." 

" But they want you." 

"What for.?" 

"They say that it will not do to decide until the professor is 
present." 

" But I am only an attacM of the party. They do not want me to 
help decide." 

" But they do. They say your opinion is worth all the rest." 

" Well, I will come along as soon as I can get ready." 

" So do, for you know how fully they all rely upon your judgment." 

"Just six minutes and ten seconds and I will be there." 

"All right." 

In less than the time mentioned. Rip Van Winkle was seen in the 
midst of the group of men who were debating their plans. As they 
saw him come, one of them said, — 

" Professor Van Wert, we have been thinking of going to the 
Dead Sea, making an examination thereabouts, and returning to this 
place again. We want your opinion." 

Rip Van Winkle heard their plans and approved of them, and said 
he would like to go with the rest. Though the gentlemen had been 
strangers to him until within the few weeks that they had been together, 
he had become much attached to them, and they felt a deep interest 
in him. What they did, and where they went, we will let the 
traveller tell in his own way. 

Jericho. 

My last letter was written when I was sitting at the door of my 
tent, looking off upon Jerusalem. You will now see that our quar- 
ters have been changed, and we are on our way to the Dead Sea, 
Though the whole land is stagnant, and marked with death, there is 
always something novel and strange drawing attention which gives 
variety even to that God-cursed region. In one place the remains 
of a city wherein some of Christ's marvellous works were done. 



IN JERICHO. 



167 



meets your eye, reminding you of transactions which will never be 
forgotten nor repeated. Then you will remember that the next piece 
of desert through which you ride has become historic on account of 
some world-famed battle which has been fought or some dreadful 
tragedy which has been enacted there. Then you leap some tiny 




ARAB AT TENT DOOR. 

brook or streamlet scant which has a sacredness which all the ages 
cannot take away. The whole life of Christ, the founding of the 
Christian religion, the most remarkable events, the most wonderful 
histories ever known, are crowded into a little country not larger 
than the state of Vermont, and though stagnation reigns, yet each 
new step is marked with something to which the traveller turns, and 
on wL.ch he gazes with ever-kindling enthusiasm. 



J 58 RIP VAN WINKLE'S TRAVELS. 

We Started one morning on a tour toward the south. We 
wanted a flag, and because we could do no better, made one that 
morning before we started. We could not purchase one. There 
was none for sale in Jerusalem, so we carefully prepared the cloth, 
and, with needle and thread, we all sat down and sewed the stripes 
together. As we sat there Avith our work on our knees, we formed 
a very much more respectable " sewing circle " than we often see at 
home, where the ladies don't sew, but come just at tea time, for the 
good supper, and then go home thinking they have been at the " sew- 
ing circler There was not room enough on our flag for the whole 
number of stars, so we put on the original thirteen. Just as we had 
finished it, a regiment of Turkish soldiers marched by, and we hung 
out our banner, proud there, before Jerusalem, that we lived under 
the stars and stripes. 

At ten in the morning our tents were all down and packed safely 
on the backs of the mules, and we were leaving Jerusalem behind us. 
The trip being somewhat dangerous, a mounted guard had been fur- 
nished us by the pasha, a sort of irregular soldiery kept for the pur- 
pose of escorting travellers through regions infested with bandits and 
robbers. Sweeping with our long train over the Mount of Olives, 
through the town of Bethany, we were now going down to Jericho. 
I never before realized the force of the expression, " going down to 
Jericho." From Jerusalem it is down hill all the way, and the roads 
are villainous in the extreme. The whole course is eminently sug- 
gestive. Through dark, solitary ravines, by the mouth of yawning 
caverns, looking out of which the swarthy Bedouins could be seen, and 
sometimes their long pointing guns, over rocky declivities, leaping our 
horses where they could neither trot nor walk, we pursued our way 
for several hours. You notice that I say "hours." The distances 
are measured by hours, not by miles. If you ask, "how far to such 
a place ? " the answer is " so many hours." A man may be an hour 
going five miles, or he may be two hours going one mile. Some 



170 



RIP VAN WINKLE 'S TRA VELS. 



days, we were riding hard to make five or six miles. The road to 
Jericho is of this description. After leaving Bethany and passing 
a famous fo",ntain covered with a Saracenic arch, close to which are 
the remains of an old Khan^ the way becomes frightful. " Into a 
bleak glen, the road winds for an hour or more, and then, leaving it 
'i the right, passes through a broken country of chalk}- hills till it 
reaches an extensive, ruined caravansary, situated on the top of a 
bleak ridge. Some broken walls and fragments of arches remain 
standing; but they are scarcely sufficient to afford us a shade while 
we rest a few minutes to draw water from the deep well. This is 
considered the most dangerous part of the road; and somewhere 
near it Sir Frederick Henniker was stripped, wounded, and left for 
dead by the Bedouins in 1820. He was probably thinking of the 
parable of the Samaritan when the assassin stroke laid him low. I 
venture to state that no one will advance much beyond this place 
without at least feeling how admirably fitted the region is for deeds 
of violence and blood; especially if he gets a sight of some of the 
half-naked Arrbs who are generally found skulking amid the ruins, 
or perching on the rocks around. On passing the ruin we enter a 
region still wilder than that we have left behind. Dr. Olin says of 
it, that ^ the mountains seem to have been loosened from their foun- 
dations and rent to pieces by some terrible convulsion, and then left 
to be scathed by the burning rays of the sun.'' 

Through such a wild desolate country we rode until nearly night, 
when we struck the Plain of Jericho. The Arab escort suddenly 
paused, and bade the compan}^ halt, and called to one of the party 
who was in advance of the rest, to return. Two or three of them 
then rode forward, and scoured the plain, riding up and down among 
the gaps to be sure that no Bedouins were lurking there to start up 
as we approached, for robbery and murder. A few days before we 
crossed this plain, two or three of our countrymen were robbed of all 
they had, their horses taken away, and they left to get back to Jeru- 



IN JERICHO. 



171 



salem on foot. We fared better, being a much larger and more 
formidable company, and we were careful that the fellows should see 
tha"- ve were well armed. Indeed, if the Arabs judged us by the 
bold show we made of revolvers and pistols, they would conclude 
that we were the most desperate set of characters that ever rode over 
the plain, as ready to shoot a Bedouin as a squirrel. 

A. length Jericho appeared in sight, and what a sight! A pile ot 




RUINED AQUEDUCT, NEAR JERICHO. 



ruined villages heaped up into one, looking more like a lot of brick- 
yards than a royal city, such as we expected to see. On the right of 
Mount Gilgal, where the twelve stones, which Joshua took out of the 
river Jordan when he crossed with the Hebrew hosts, were set up as 
a memorial, and where, also, the Tabernacle was pitched for the first 
time in the Holy land, we encamped. The site of Gilgal is near Jeri- 
cho, but not a vestige of the place remains. It has been destroyed, 
plucked up by the roots and ploughed for the fruitful field. After 
our tents were all pitched, and dinner had been served, we walked 



172 



RIP VAN WINKLE'S TRAVELS. 



over to see Jericho! There have been three Jerichos. The tirst 
was very ancient in its origin. It was the city of palm-trees, and 
must have been very beautiful in its time. This was the place that 
was taken by Joshua after being encompassed by the Israelites. 

The second Jericho was built in the time of Ahab, by Hiel the 
Bethelite. It flourished exceedingly, and became a very noted place, 
but in time it was again destroyed. The third city was founded 
some time before Christ, and was in his day, a considerable place. 
It continued awhile to increase in wealth and power, but the hand of 
God was laid upon it, and it went to sad decay. 

There was a terrible curse pronounced on the first Jericho, which 
was wonderfully verified in the building of the second. When 
Joshua had taken the place, he destroyed it by direction of the 
Almighty, and then pronounced a curse upon anybody who should 
endeavor to rebuild it, in the words: "Cursed be the man before the 
Lord, that riseth up and buildeth this city Jericho; he shall lay the 
foundation thereof in his first born, and in his youngest son shall he 
set up the gates of it." This was a most peculiar curse, but it was 
fulfilled. Five hundred years after Joshua destroyed the city, Hiel 
set himself about rebuilding it. He knew about the curse. But he 
lived in a wicked age, and was the servant of a very wicked king, 
and dared defy the Almighty. So he commenced the work, and the 
curse commenced with it. While the foundations were being laid, 
Abiram, Hiel's eldest son, was killed, and while the gates were being 
set, Segub, his youngest son, died, crushed, as is supposed, by falling 
masonry. The word of God tells it all in one graphic sentence, — 
*^ He laid the foundation thereof in Abiram, his first born, and set up 
the gates thereof in his youngest son, Segub!" And so may we 
learn were all God's curses and threatenings fulfilled. 

Entering Jericho just before sundown, we found it to be a most 
forlorn and God-forsaken place. The children howled and yelled at 
us, and set dogs on us. The women followed us with scowling 



/iV JERICHO. 



173 



faces, and taunts, and we were glad to escape. On emerging on the 
other side of the town, we found the house in which Zaccheus is said 
to have lived at the time he entertained the Saviour. The tree into 
which he climbed is not standing, though it is ahnost a wonder that 
some one near by is not pointed out as the veritable tree from which 
he expected to get a good view of the illustrious personage. The 
house which is now occupied by a Turkish governor, is in a good 
state of preservation, and is the largest in or about the town. 

At night we had an idea of life in Jericho. Between us and the 
city was a grove, and after dark, the people came out of their filthy 
houses and assembled here. It was a strange gathering. Some 
were cooking their evening meal, some were sporting on the green 
sward, some were dancing under the trees, some were sleeping, 
some in groups were singing their monotonous songs, and every con- 
ceivable thing was being practised, from the Moslem offering his 
prayers, to the most utterly indecent exhibitions, to which there 
seemed to be no restraint. I never knew, until that evening, 
how near human beings could come to the brutish cr^eation, or how 
low immortal souls could descend. Until late in the evening they 
kept up their revel, and then the quiet of night hushed them in 
slumber. 

While sitting in our tents this evening, our friend the dragoman 
came in and told us that women outside wished to speak to us. 
" Women ! " we said. " Yes." We wondered what lady friends we 
had in Jericho! We could not conceive what women should want 
of us, and some of the gentlemen began to fancy that their wives, 
thinking it not well that they should have all the pleasure of the trip 
alone, had followed them across the ocean and overtaken us at 
Jericho. But Hallile, one of our attendants, told us that the women 
were the dancing girls of the country, who are accustomed to visit 
the camps of European travellers and give them an exhibition of their 
dancing skill. They go through their dance, for which the travellers 



Ij^ RIP VAN WINKLE'S TRAVELS. 

are expected to pay something. I was not unwilling to have the 
exhibition, but some of the party objected, and we sent the servant 
out to send the girls away. The dancing girls of the East are an 
institution of themselves, and those who are acquainted with dancing 
in this country have little idea of the same art in oriental nations. I 
don't know but the dancing of the Arabs is as decent and as sensible 
as our own. Let me describe it in the language of another: — 
"Whenever a town is reconnoitred, in the poorest and shabbiest 
huts on the outskirts, the dancing girls have their homes. Different 
from all other females, their faces are never covered. Their dress is 
of a light rose color, a delicate yellow, or an equally soft blue — of 
the thinnest gauze. Their foreheads are covered with jewels of 
Turkish gold or silver coin, suspended in strings, one below another. 
They are stockingless, but wear red morocco shoes, stiff and hard. 
Their belts are strung with trinkets, such as small silver triangles, or 
little bells, and all have metallic cymbals in each hand. Stripping 
off their shoes when the music begins, their hips suddenly rise up, 
their bodies swing either way, their toes cramp into the sand or into 
the floor, while their countenances assume an earnestness of expres- 
sion; the fervor increases, the features become impassioned, the cym- 
bals click, and thus they pass from one degree of excitement to 
another till, quite exhausted with the intense action of every muscle 
in the frame, the exhibition closes." Why this disgusting contortion 
of the muscles of the body should be called dancing, I don't know. 
One needs to s'='e it but once to remember it with a feeling of loath' 
ing and abhorren .&, 

Sunrise in triv^ morrmg found us on the banks of the Jordan — at 
the spot where x u supposed Christ was baptized, a short distance 
from the entrance of the river into the Dead Sea. The Jordan is a 
sacred river, divided for the passage of the Children of Israel, and 
notable for the baptism of Christ. It has figured largel}^ in the 
annals of the church. It rises far away in the north, at the roots of 



IN JERICHO. 



ns 



Anti-Lebanon, and pours down over long inclined planes and twenty- 
seven rapids and cataracts for two hundred and ten miles, until it 
comes to the Dead Sea. It descends from the point where it rises to 
the Sea of Tiberias, which is six hundred and fifty feet below the 




BANKS OF THE ;0RDAN. 

Mediterranean. Through that sea which is thirteen miles long and 
six miles wide it rushes on its way scarcely mingling with its waters, 
and pouring out at the lower extremity, and descending again in 
swift torrents to the Dead Sea, which is one thousand three hundred 
and sixteen feet below the Mediteranean. Almost all the way, it 



176 



RIP VAN WINKLE'S TRAVELS. 



flows through a deep sombre glen varying from two hundred to six 
hundred yards in width, and from forty to ninety feet below the level 
land above. The banks are of clay and mud, and shrubs and trees 
of various kinds grow on the shores. The stream itself varies in 
width and depth. At the place we visited it was, at the time, about 
one hundred feet wide and very deep, and the current was very swift. 
Travellers differ much in their descriptions of the depth and breadth 
of the Jordan, from the fact that they view it at different seasons of 
the year — one when the snows of Anti-Lebanon and the north of 
Syria have swollen it, and others when the summer suns have licked 
up the waters, so that they have nearly all disappeared. I saw the 
river at sunrise that day. It was wide and deep. Along its course 
trunks of trees, the roots of shrubs and many other fragments were 
rapidly borne along. There was water enough to drown a hundred 
thousand men, and it was not hard to recall that time when our Lord, 
beneath the shadow of the trees as they overhung the stream, was 
baptized in the Jordan. 

Once a year a most singular scene is witnessed here at the Jordan. 
The Greek Christians of Palestine have an annual custom of coming in 
large numbers to bathe in these waters. It takes place in Passion 
Week. On Monday swarms of pilgrims come from all parts of 
Palestine and encamp at Gilgal. "The desolate plain," says one who 
has witnessed the thrilling scene, " is thus suddenly filled with life; 
and the stray traveller who witnesses the scene will be strikingly 
reminded of the multitudes that thronged, eighteen centuries ago, to 
the * baptism of John.' Every Christian state of Europe and Asia 
has its representative there; and there, too, is seen, picturesquely 
grouped, every variety of costume. At their head marches the 
Turkish governor of Jerusalem, or his deputy, with an armed escort, 
to guard against the bandits, who, since the days of the '^Good 
Samaritan,' have infested this desert road. Some hours before dawn 
on the following morning a host of little tom-toms suddenly give 



IN JERICHO. i^» 

forth their discordant but stirring roll, and a thousand torches sud- 
denly flash amid the thickets of the plain. Over the desert presses 
the crowd in silence. A raddy glow along the eastern horizon 
brings out into bold relief the summits of the Moab mountains, 
and gives a hint of the sun's approach; and the pilgrims, as they 
descend the steep bank from the upper terrace, now see, in the pale 
morning light, the dark line of foliage that hides the sacred stream. 
An opening in the fringed border is soon after discovered, and the 
motley throng hastily dismount, and, as Mr. Stanley graphically 
describes it, ^ set to work to perform their bath; most on the open 
space, some farther up among the thickets, some plunging in naked, 
most, however, with white dresses, which they bring with them, and 
which, having been so used, are kept for their winding sheets. Most 
of the bathers keep within the shelter of the bank, where the water 
is about four feet in depth, though with a bottom of very deep mud. 
The Coptic pilgrims are curiously distinguished from the rest by the 
boldness with which they dart into the main current, striking the 
water after their fashion alternately with their two arms, and playing 
wnth the eddies, which hurr}^ them down and across, as if they were in 
the cataracts of their own Nile. ... A primitive domestic character 
pervades in a singular form the whole transaction. The families 
which have come on their single mule or camel now bathe together, 
with the utmost gravity; the father receiving from the mother the in- 
fant, which has been brought to receive the one immersion which will 
suffice for the rest of its life, and thus, by a curious economy of 
resources, save it from the expense and danger of a future pilgrimage 
in after years. In about two hours the shores are cleared; with the 
same quiet they remount their camels and horses; and before the 
noonday heat has set in, are again encamped on the upper plain 
of Jericho. . . . Once more they may be seen. At the dead of night 
the drum again awakes them for their homeward inarch. The 
torches again go before; behind follows the vast multitude, mounted, 

12, 



lyS 



RIP VAN WINKLE'S TRAVELS. 



passing in profound silence over that silent plain — so silent that, bu* 
for the tinkling of the drum, its departure would hardly be per- 
ceptible. The troops stay on the ground to the end, to guard 
the rear; and when the last roll of the drum announces that the 
last soldier is gone, the whole plain returns again to its perfect 
solitude.' " 

And speaking of the baptism of Christ, reminds us that John, his 
forerunner and harbinger, came clothed in " camel's hair," and 
*^ eating locusts and wild honey." The locusts of the East were an 
article of food, being prepared in different ways. Sometimes thej 
were pounded up and mixed with flour and sometimes boiled, 
broiled or roasted. And yet it is a question whether John did really 
eat this food, or whether he lived on the sweet locust-pods, on which 
the prodigal fed, called in his case, the ^"^husksP It was an article 
generally used in feeding the swine. Certain is it that this was the 
food the prodigal son wanted, and which no man gave to him, and 
many suppose it was the food of John, called in this case ^^locusts^^ 
The fruit is now used by the common people as an article of food. 
It has a sweetish smell, and is not at all unpleasant to the taste. 

Well, here, boys, I must leave you. You can think of me 
encamped near the Jordan, from whence I shall go to a spot where 
! know you would like to be with me. 

Rip Van Winkle. 



lA BETHLEHEM. 



IN BETHLEHEM. 




OLD KHAN. 



"Where do you suppose Rip Van Winkle will take us to-night?" 
asked Fred of his two fellows, on the day when the next budget 
was to be opened. 

" I don't know," answered Charlie, " but I presume he will return 
from the Jordan to Jerusalem, and his letter will be from that city," 

" I think not," said Will. " The master has plenty of time on his 
hands, and I do not think he will turn back so soon. He may go 



I go RIP VAN WINKLE'S TRAVELS. 

through the desert to Egypt, and if so we shall find him on the Nile. 
But we shall see when we meet to-night." 

" Don't you sometimes peep into the letter before you open it in 
the Triangle? " asked an outsider who was by. 

" On my honor, no! " 

" I should think you would." 

"We agreed some time since that the letters should be opened in 
public meeting, and shall hold to it." 

"Shall I come to-night?" 

"Yes, glad to have you." 

" I know of several who will be present." 

" Yes, we have invited twenty-five — as many as our parlor will 
accommodate." 

" Then I will be there." 

When the hour arrived a goodly company of gentlemen and ladies 
was present, and the Triangle opened in the usual way, and the letter 
was opened, and found to be dated at 

Bethlehem. 

I left you last week at the ford of the Jordan, where we cut walk- 
ing sticks, and gathered flowers. A brisk trot on our poor horses 
brought us to the Dead Sea, a very memorable sheet of water, and one 
that you would like to bathe in. We met with no adventure on the way, 
though the region is infested with robbers who will attack any party 
that may not be strong enough to resist them. Not long before we 
were there, an Englishman in company with a clergyman from Phila- 
delphia, with their two wives, took it into their heads to visit Jordan 
without an armed escort. They reached the river in safety, but in 
crossing over to the sea were met by bandits w^ho robbed them 
of ever3'thing they had, taking every article of clothing they wore, 
and leaving them to get back to the city in the best way they could. 

As one approaches the Dead Sea, he is conscious of a drowsiness: 
which sobers and saddens him. It may be the emotions, or the deso- 



l82 



RIP VAN WINKLE'S TRAVELS. 



iation of the surroundings, but few fail to feel it. The spirits go 
down, vivacity ceases, and a sadness comes over all the senses. The 
sea is called in Scripture, " the Salt Sea," the " Sea of the Plain," the 
" Sea of Arabah," and the " Sea of Sodom." It is forty-six miles long 




CHURCH OF THE NATIVITY. 



by ten and a half wide, an oblong pool containing about two hundred 
and fifty square miles area. As already remarked, it lies one thou- 
sand three hundred and sixteen feet below the Mediterranean Sea. 
It is very deep, measuring, only a mile from the northern end, over 
one thousand three hundred feet. The chief characteristics of the 




EASTERN GLEANERS. 



1 84 



RIP VAN WINKLE'S TRAVELS. 



water are its weight and saltness. A gallon weighs about three 
pounds more than common water, and has in it over three pounds of 
saline matter, of which one pound is of common salt. Ordinary sea 
water contains only one-half pound of saline matter to the gallon. 

It has been a common idea that a bird trying to fly across the sea 
would soon inhale the poisonous vapors and fall dead into the water. 
But this is not so. Birds do fly over the waters, though there is so 
little to attract them that they are not often seen about the sea. They 
keep away from it because there is nothing there for them to feed 
upon. Now and then a shrub is seen growing, but vegetation finds 
little to support it there. The shores of the north end are covered 
with black coal-like bituminous stones, which will burn if put into a 
hot fire. They resemble in appearance a slaty kind of coal. 

A bath in the water is more novel than comfortable. A New 
York clergyman who went in says: "I cannot conceive worse tor- 
ture than that plunge caused me. Every inch of my skin smarted 
and stung as if a thousand nettles had been whipped over it. My 
face was as if dipped in boiling oil, and the skin under my hair and 
beard was absolute fire; my eyes were balls of anguish, and my nos- 
trils hot as the nostrils of Lucifer. I howled with pain; but I sus- 
pended when I heard my friend's voice. He had swallowed some of 
the water, and coughed it up into his nose and the tubes under his 
e3'es. The effect was to overcome all pain elsewhere while that tor- 
ture endured. It came near being a serious matter with him; and, as 
it was, his voice suffered for a week, his eyes and nose were inflamed 
as if with a severe cold, and the pain continued severe for several 
days. Recovering our feet with difficulty, we stood, pictures of de- 
spair, not able to open our eyes, and increasing the pain by every 
attempt we made to rub them with our wet hands or arms." 

Our party were soon floundering about upon the water. It was 
quite amusing. Portly men would float upon the surface like a cork. 
Tall thin men would act like a pole — if one end was down, the other 



IN BETHLEHEM. 



185 



end was up. A little scratch or bruised spot upon the body would 
be the source of intense pain as soon as the water touched it. On 
cominof out the skin is found covered with a saltish scurf that is 
quite unpleasant. Generally, travellers visit the Dead Sea first and 
wash off the salt in the Jordan afterward, but we had tried the Jordan 
first, and were to suffer the salting process all through that sultry burn- 
ing day. 

The shrubs growing on the shore of the lake are the lotus and the 
osker plant. The lotus is described by Lynch, as " having small dark- 
green, oval-shaped, ivy-like leaves. Clustering thick and irregu- 
larly upon the crooked branches, are sharp thorns half an inch in 
length. The smaller branches are very pliant, which, in connection 
with the ivy-like appearance of the leaves, sustain the legend 
that of them was made the mock crown of the Redeemer. Its fruit, 
as I have before mentioned, is subacid, and of a pleasant flavor." 

The osher plant bears what are called the apples of Sodom. These 
apples are about the size of a small lemon, filled with bitter juice, 
which when dried changes to ashes. Thus they are spoken of by 
Tacitus: "The herbage may spring up, and the trees may put forth 
their blossoms, they may even attain the usual appearance of matur- 
ity, but with this florid outside, all within turns black and moulders 
into dust." Josephus in his description of them says, "Which fruits 
have 3 color as if they were fit to be eaten ; but if you pluck them 
with your hands, they dissolve into smoke and ashes." 

About half way down the lake is the famous pillar of salt, known 
as " Lot's wife." For ages such a pillar is said to have been in 
existence, and now and then allusions have been made to it by 
travellers. Lynch, in his Dead Sea expedition, found it, as it had 
been described at Usdum: "Soon, to our astonishment," he says, 
"we saw on the eastern side of Usdum, one-third the distance from 
its north extreme, a lofty, round pillar, standing apparently detached 
from the general mass, at the head of a deep, narrow, and abrupt 



J 36 ^IP VAN WINKLE'S TRAVELS. 

chasm. We immediately pulled in for the shore, and Dr. Anderson 
and I went up and examined it. The beach was a soft, slimy mud 
encrusted with salt, and, a short distance from the water, covered 
with saline fragments and flakes of bitumen. We found the pillar to 
be of solid salt, capped with carbonate of lime, cylindrical in front, 
and pyramidal behind. The upper or rounded part is about forty feet 
high, resting on a kind of oval pedestal, from forty feet to sixty 
feet above the level of the sea. It slightly decreases in size upwards, 
crumbles at the top, and is one entire mass of crystallization. A 
prop, or buttress, connects it with the mountain behind, and the 
whole is covered with debris of a light stone-color. Its pecu- 
liar shape is doubtless attributable to the action of the winter 
rains." 

By some ill-fortune our dragoman when we returned from the 
Dead Sea left his skins containing water behind, and we were an 
hour on our way before the loss was discovered. At length when 
thirst began we inquired for drink, and found that we had none. 
This was a bad condition of things. We had several hours' ride 
before us. The sands of the scorching desert over which we rode 
were hot and blistering. The Syrian sun was pouring down its 
hottest beams, and the thermometer stood at one hundred degrees. 

"How far is it before we come to water .^" we asked of our 
dragoman. 

" Half hour," was the reply. 

We thought that we could stand that very well, though the salt 
sea had parched our lips, and terrible were our sensations. We rode 
on half an hour, and then inquired again, " Dragoman, how far is it 
to water ? " 

" Half hour," he replied. 

Still on we rode another half hour, and again asked the same 
question, and received the same answer. 

"You rascal," we replied, "you told us an hour ago that we 




SHEPHERD BOY OF BETHLEHEM. 



/88 RIP VAN WINKLE'S TRAVELS. 

should come to water in half an hour — now tell us truly how far it is 
before we can get any water to drink." 

Finding himself driven to the wall, the dragoman put spurs to his 
horse, saying, "Water is half hour — hour — hour and a half." 

And this was the only reply we could get all that day. 

"Do tell us, dragoman," we would say, "how long it will be 
before we reach some spring or well where we can find water," and 
the same unsatisfactory reply would be given, " Half hour — hour — 
hour and a half." 

I never knew what thirst was before. I thought I had experienced 
it. I had read about it in books. I had heard of men left for days 
without water on the sun-heated deck of some ship, but I never knew 
the meaning of that word, thirst! Hour after hour we rode on in 
the scorching heat, brains throbbing, pulses beating, heads aching, and 
senses failing. At length in the middle of the afternoon we came to 
water. It was in a sort of excavation under a rock. The water had 
drained down from some recent rain, and was a foot or two deep. 
The top of it was covered with a green slime, and one or two dead 
owls were lying on the surface. That was the water we were to 
drink. Out of that cistern we were to obtain our supply. Under 
ordinary circumstances the idea of drinking such water as that would 
have been so revolting that we should have turned away in deep 
disgust. But not so then. We were thirsty. We knew the meaning 
of that word. So we lowered our tin cans down into the pool, and 
drawing up the thick, putrid liquid, swallowed it without com- 
punction. And, certainly, no Cochituate, with Lake Wenham ice in 
it — no Croton, from crystal goblets, ever tasted so delicious as that 
stuff from that well in the desert. Only once that day did we get 
a glimpse of the Bedouin robbers of the wilderness. In the forenoon, 
a company of them saw our train moving along, and dashed across 
the plain to intercept us, but on coming near found that we were too 
strong for them, and with a few curses hurled harmlessly at our escort, 



I no RIP VAN WINKLE'S TRAVELS. 

they strapped their long guns over their shoulders and rode hastily 
away. 

Late in the afternoon we reached the convent of Mar Saba, one 
of the most remarkable in the world. There we were to stop after 
our toilsome journey. On entering, the monks furnished us with 
lemonade, arakee^ and other drinks, w^hich w^e took according to our 
tastes and inclinations — some the harmless lemonade, and some the 
fiery arakee, an intoxicating liquor distilled from anise seeds, and 
other sweet herbs of the region. This convent is located in a ravine 
through which runs the brook Kedron, and is said to be the most 
" extraordinary building in Palestine." The convent was founded by 
St. Sabas in the year 483. It is partly natural, being hewn in 
the cliffs, and partly artificial, chambers having been built out, and 
projecting over the valley below. Imagine a deep ravine, with 
a high ledge of rocks, or series of bluffs, rising precipitously from it, 
and these rocks excavated, pillared, chambered, and fortified, so that it 
seems as if the very precipice itself was one vast edifice, and 
you have some conception of this convent. It is wildly picturesque, 
and is a study for the curious traveller. After supper we went 
in through these queer chambers which are used by the monks for 
various purposes. They did not put us into cells at night, but 
provided for us in the large dining-room of the convent. The most 
remarkable room we saw there w^as the charnel-house, in which they 
keep the monks after they are dead. For a year, we were told they 
are allowed to lie in their monkish habits, and then their bones are 
cleaned and they are housed away in this hideous chamber. We 
saw one or two monks, embalmed as we suppose, spending their pro- 
bationary year in their robes, waiting for its expiration, to be taken to 
pieces and fixed out for a final disposal. The history of the founding 
of the convent is this: " St. Sabas, the founder of the convent, is said 
to have been born in the year a. d. 439. He was a man of extraordi- 
nary sanctity; and assuredly no stronger proof could be ^;iven of the 



IN Bi^THLEHEM. igv 

high veneration in which he was held than the fact, if fact it be, thai 
he drew thousands of followers after him to this dreary region. 
Some writers affirm that as many as fourteen thousand swarmed to 
this glen and its neighborhood during the saint's life. Sabas w^as 
a native of Cappadocia, but at a very early age he devoted himself to 
conventual life, and went to Palestine. After visiting many parts 
of the country in search of a home, he withdrew to this spot about 
the year 483, and began to form a religious community. He soon 
afterwards founded the convent, which still bears his name. He 
subsequently received from the Patriarch of Jerusalem the appoint- 
ment of archimandrite, or abbot of all the anchorites of Palestine. In 
the controversy raised about the Monophysite heresy, which so 
troubled the Church during the early part of the sixth century, he 
took a leading part; and on one occasion, with a little army of monks, 
he marched to Jerusalem, drove the emissaries of the heretical 
Patriarch of Antioch from the city, though accompanied by imperial 
troops, and pronounced anathemas against him, and all those of his 
communion, in the presence of the emperor." The saint died — for 
saints will die, in 532, after which, for twelve centuries, his holy 
home was a place of blood, sometimes being held by one faction, and 
sometimes by another, until now, a peaceful community of monks 
inhabit it, and it is a hotel for travellers on their way from the 
Dead Sea to Bethlehem. A story is told by the monks, and many 
believe it, that when the saint came here, he found one of the 
crevices in the rock which he supposed would make an admirable 
place for a recluse to live in poverty, retirement, and with God. But 
on climbing to it, he found a fierce lion to be a prior occupant. The 
saint told him his purpose; and the king of beasts, appreciating his 
pious wish, left the premises, and for years brought the hermit his 
food day by day, and at night slept at his door as a faithful sentinel- 
Several ages have added to this place, so that now it is so extensive 
that no stranger could find his way through it. 



192 



RIP VAN WINKLE'S TRAVELS. 




BETHLEHEM, LOOKING EAST. 

No lady is ever allowed within the gates of this strange edifice. 
Were a woman dying, she would not receive permission to enter. 
Sometimes in perilous times, however, when the country was so filled 
with roDoers tnat it would be utterly unsafe to stay in camp outside, 
women nave Deen hoisted from, the outside to the top ^i the high 



IN BE7IILEHE.}r. j^^-, 

tower, and thus allowed to remain over night. There is not rrruch 
huspit.'ihty, nor much gallantry in this, but it is a way the monks have. 
When Mr. Prime was at this convent, he trieJ to take his wife in, but 
was not successful. " When the door at which we stood was 
opened," he says, "we found a lay brother there who was not booked 
up in the traditions. He politely invited us to enter. I asked him 
if Miriam could be admitted; aid he said there was no objection. I 
waited a moment to send back to the tents for her; and he, in the 
mean time, stepped into the refecior}^ to consult an older authority. 
When Miriam arrived, we advanced as icX as the descent of the first 
steps, into the great court by the tomb of the saint, but there we were 
arrested by a cry that might have roused his bones, if the profane 
footsteps of a female had not already disturbed him. The father 
superior and a dozen brothers were begging Miriam to go out; and 
she paused a moment to enjoy their terror, and then retired to the 
gate, where a venerable monk soon joiited her; and, making a 
thousand apologies, and relating the traditions \.o Ler great amuse- 
ment, led her to the east tower, where she could look down into tne 
convent, and where she was supplied with bon-bons, sweetmeats, 
jellies (and arakee!) ad libitum^ while we entered the sacred pre- 
mcts." 

It is a wild and strange place, and as in the evening we wandered 
out, and looked up to the grotesque structure, we could not prevent 
imacrination from investinor each cell with nameless horrors and 
infernal tragedies. The valley of the Kedron, on the side of which 
the convent is built, or rather into the sides of which it is built, is 
about four hundred feet deep, and six hundred feet across from height 
to height; and the whole has been very appropriately styled a "city 
of caverns." 

When morning came we were glad to gallop out the gates, and 
leave the dim, frightful old nest of caves behind us. A brisk ride of 
three and a half hours along the banks of the Kedron, across the 
13 



194 



RIP VAN WINKLE'S TRAVELS 



dreary plateaus, brought us within sight of Pethlehem. As we rode 
toward the town we were reminded of the olden times. Shepherds 
were near, watching theii flocks on the hills and in the valleys, as tbey 
did eighteen hundred years ago. The day was quiet, and all nature 
was hushed to calm repose. The words of Milton came to mind as 
we advanced, — 

" No war nor battle sound 

Was heard the world around ; 
No hostile chiefs tc famous combat ran ; 

But peaceful was the night 

In which the prince of light, 
His reign of peace upon the earth began. 

The shepherds on the lawn, 

Before the point of dawn. 
In social circle sat : while all around, 

The gentle fleecy brood, 

That cropped the flowery food. 
Or slept, or sported on the verdant ground." 

It seemed almost as if we should hear the angels sing, and w» 
paused as Ave read the account of Messiah's birth — listening as we 
read to catch ■^ome seraph's anthem in the sky. 

When near the town we met groups of young girls and children, 
Did men and young men, coming out and going in, forming a beautiful 
and picturesque spectacle to the eye, and as the low wailing music 
fell on the ear, it seemed the sweetest place we had visited. You 
can hardly conceive of the beautiful effect of the whole scene, the 
costumes ot the country cor esponding so finely with the natural 
scenery, the whole effect heightened by the flowing robes and the 
shcwv colors. 

Bethlehem! What sacred memories cluster around this place! 
The word signifies — " House of Bread," and the town is sacred in 
the annals of the people of God. Here Jacob buried Rachel; here 
Ruth came and gleaned in the fields of Boaz; here Jesse lived at 
the time David was anointed king; and here, greatest event of all, 



-"Iljjlll^^ ..^^1 




.\'-ZMi.N OF ilETHLEHEM 



196 



RIP VAN WINKLE'S TRAVELS. 



the son of God commenced his earthly career, and the sacred majesty 
of heaven put on a robe ot flesh. 

Driving at once to the church and convent, v\^e were in the midst 
jf the sacred places. They are all under this church and convent 
edifice. The grotto of the Nativity, or the stable in which the Lord 
was born, has been recognized for seventeen centuries. It is beneath 
the church, which was erected by the Empress Helena in the year 
328. The grotto, cave, or stable, as it formerly was, is a natural 
cavity in the rock, thirty-eight feet long by twelve in width, and is 
reached by crowded passages. Passing through these passages and 
entering the room, you find that the monks have marked every spot 
with an exactness which throws discredit on them all. There, under 
sixteen silver lamps, that are never allowed to go out, is a slab cover- 
ing the exact spot, it is said, where the Virgin Mary gave birth to the 
son of man. Holding a candle down to the slab, you find a Latin 
inscription, which reads as follows : " Hie de Virgins Maria yesus 
Christus natus estP '^ Here Jesus Christ was born of the Virgin 
Mary." Near by is a stone trough, which is pointed out as the 
manger wherein the Lord was laid after his birth. Another spot is 
marked as the one where he was arrayed in swaddling bands. 
Though the exact spots are of course, uncertain, the cave is doubtless 
the one in which Christ was born. Indeed, writers who are skeptica, 
on many of the places, give credence to this. Dr. Robinson saj 
'^The Cave of the Nativity, so called, at Bethlehem, has been pointed 
out as the place where Jesus was born, by a tradition wi:iich reaches 
back at least to the middle of the second century. At that time 
Justin Martyr speaks distinctly of the Saviour's birth, as having oc- 
curred in a grotto near Bethlehem. In the third century, Origen 
adduces it as a matter of public notoriety, so that even the heathen 
regarded it as the birthplace of him whom the Christians adored. 
Eusebius also mentions it several years before the journey of Helena, 
and the latter consecrated the spot by erecting over it a church." 






JA BETHLEHEM. ig^ 

Another subterranean cave is shown as the study of St. Jerome, 
•sirhere so many years of his toilsome life were spent, a fit place for a 
man to be alone and wrestle with God. An old portrait of the saint 
yet hangs in the room, which is dim and dreary enough for any 
recluse. 

There is at Bethlehem what is called ''The Milk Grotto." I 
should not omit a reference to that. " Tradition relates," says the 
historian, "that the Virgin and Child hid themselves here from the 
fury of Herod for some time before their flight to Egypt. The grotto 
is excavated in the chalky rock, which derives its whiteness, say th^ 
monks, from some drops of the Virgin's milk which accidentally fell 
upon it. Many are the pilgrimages made to this spot, and the reason 
is, the virtue attributed to the stone of miraculously increasing 
woman's milk. The stone is soft, and bits are broken off, and 
conveyed to every province of Europe, Asia, and Africa, in which 
Christian superstition has established its dominion, to be administered 
to such as need its wondrous efficacy. Even the Abbe Geramb bears 
testimony to its virtues. ^ I shall make no remark,' he states, * on the 
virtue of these stones or on its causes. I merely affirm, as an 
ascertained fact, that a great number of persons obtain from it the 
effect they anticipate.' " The few hours spent in Bethlehem are 
memorable ones. The quaint town, the attentive monks, the dim and 
dreary convent, the suggestive associations, all add interest to the dajT 
dfA the occasion. 

From Bethlehem we rode to the extensive pools of Solomon, troiti 
whith the king, in an aqueduct yet extant, carried water to the cit} 
of Jerusalem. Then on to the capital, whic'i we reach at dusk, 
entering by the way of Olivet, taking the road which the Saviour took 
when they carried him over in triumph, and soon we were at our 
camp ground, under the branches of fig-trees cooling ourselves in the 
door of our tents. 

Before closing this long letter, which I will soon do, I wish tv 



198 



RIP VAN WINKLE'S TRAVELS. 



speak of a few things in general. I was afraid when I set out for the 
Holy Land that I should find things so different from what I had 
expected and imagined, that my feelings would be constantly shocked. 
But It was not so. Not only in Jerusalem, but throughout Palestine, I 
found things very much as I expected to find them, and indeed as I 
wanted to find them. The face of the country, the topography of the 
Holy Land, corresponded with my general idea; and the habits 
and customs of the people, so little changed from what they were 
centuries ago, seemed to bring up before me the narratives of that 
blessed Saviour, whose words are ever fresh and new. The hills 
looked us I thought they would look; the people dressed as I 
expected to see them; the cities, towns, and villages, v^e^e as I had 
heard them described. 

The roads everywhere were dreadful. Indeed there were no roads 
worthy of the name, and I often wondered how our dragoman could 
take us through the country without being confused and losing 
his way. Sometimes the precipices were so steep that we were 
obliged to dismount and let our horses pick their way down as best 
they could, and again and again have I seen them roll over and over. 
At other times we pursued our way for miles over rough, ragged, 
rolling stones, that turned, and slid, and wabbled, and rolled as we 
trod on them, or as our horses put their feet into them. Sometimes 
the only way we could advance was to follow the bed of a stream, the 
water splashing on us as we rode along. I think there is only one 
decent carriage road from Mount Sinai to Mount Lebanon, and that 
has been- built from Beyrout to Damascus, by the French government, 
That admits of heavy carriages, has been built at a great expense, and 
has required considerable time to complete it. 

The climate we found much more favorable for our explorations 
than we had anticipated. Onl}^ one day — that on which we journeyed 
from the Dead Sea to Mar Saba — did the mercury in the thermom- 
eter rise higher than 100°, and on one occasion, at five o'clock in the 



IN BETHLEHEM. 



IQ9 



morning, it was as low as 34!°, but generally ranging from 00' 
to 80°. 

At almost every turn one is meeting something to remind him of 
Scripture, something to prove and illustrate the truth of the words of 
Christ and his apostles. The whole land is a sublime illustration 
of the truth of prophecy. The declarations of God are written, not 
only in the Bible, but they are burnt into the soil of Palestine. 
Jerusalem is the fulfilment of prophecy. Jericho, Capernaum, Tyre 
and Sidon, are fultilments of prophecy. Everywhere the truth 
of God is seen in the history and condition of this land and people. 
Everywhere the :ruth of the Bible is seen in the destruction of cities 
and the wreck of once populous countries. 

Rip Van Winkle. 



200 



KIP VAN WINKLE 'S IkA VEL6. 



IN HEBRON. 




ABRAHAM S OAK. 



Before leaving Bethlehem, the party with Rip Van Winkle at its 
head rode out gayly to visit a cave, famed in ancient history — the 
Cave of Adullam. It is about five miles from Bethlehem, and a ride 
of little over an hour brought the travellers to it. It is near the base 
of Jebel Fureidis and w^ell answers to the description of the cave in 
which David hid. Dr. Thomson's description of his visit would 
answer for that of our party. " Having passed eastward of Tekoa, 
we descended a shallow wady for about a mile to some curious 
old buildings which overhang the tremendous gorge of Wady Urtas 
there called Khureitiin, which is also the name of the ruins. Leav- 
ing our horses in charge of wild Arabs, and taking one for a guide, 
we started for the cave, having a fearful gorge below, gigantic cliffs 



A\- HEBRON. 



201 



aDove, and a path winding alang a shelf of rock, narrow enough to 
make the nervous among us shudder. At length, from a great rock 
hanging on the edge of this shelf, we sprang by a long leap into a 
low window which opened into the perpendicular face of the cliff. 
We were then within the hold of David, and, creeping half doubled 
Arough a narrow crevice for a few rods, we stood beneath the dark 
vault of the first grand chamber of this mysterious and oppressive 




HEBRON. 



cavern. Our whole collection of lights did little more than make the 
damp darkness visible. After groping about as long as we had time 
to spare, we returned to the light of day, fully convinced that, vv^ith 
David and his lion-hearted followers inside, all the strength of Israel 
under Saul could not have forced an entrance — would not have even 
ttempted it. I see no reason to disturb the tradition which makes 
tnis the hold into which David retired with his father's house and his 
faithful followers when he fled from Gath. David, as a shepherd 
l6ad'ng his flocks over these hills, was doubtless acquainted from his 



202 ^IP VAN WINKLE'S TRAVELS. 

boyhood with all the intricacies of this fearful cavern, just as these 
Arab shepherds, his successors, now are, and what more natural, 
therefore, than that he should flee thither in the day of his extremity? 
It was out in the wild desert, far from the haunts of Saul, and nc: 
likely Xo be visited by him. It was also in the direction of Moab, 




CAVE OF ADULI.AM. 



whither he sent his parents and the women of his train, while he 
abode still in the hold. Again, we know that many of his subsequent 
exploits and escapes from Saul were in this region and south of it; 
and, finally, there is a sort of verbal accuracy in speaking of the 
topography — David's family are said to have gone doivn to him from 
Bethlehem. Now this cavern is nearly two hours to the southeast of 




HEBRON AND CAVE OF MACHPELAH. 



204 ^^^ VAN WINKLE'S TRAVELS. 

that village, and the path descends rapidly nearly the entire distance. 

Let us therefore acquiesce in the tradition that this is the Adullam 

into which David fled fi )m Gath, and in w lich he first collected and 

organized his band of trusty followers." 

Hebron. 

It was early morning when the first view o± Hebron, the old 
royal city of David, was first taken. It was an inspiring sight, and 
must have been magnificent wnen the place was m its former glory 
and splendor. Of course, within, like all the old cities of Palestine, 
there is an annoying disappointment, but approaching the city of 
Hebron from the northeast, a very fine view is obtained. 

The objects to be seen in Hebron are the pools, the Cave of 
Machpelah, the manufactories of glass and filigree work — each on 
a small scale, to be sure — the mosque and a few other things. The 
city is reduced in population greatly from what it once was. It has 
now only seven thousand inhabitants, but these people are much 
more respectable and thrifty than those found in Jericho, Bethlehem, 
or Jerusalem. 

Here, in the vineyards around Hebron, the spies sent out by 
Moses found the magnificent fruit which they carried back to show 
to the people as evidences of the fertility of the land. There is little 
now to suggest the grapes of Eshcol, or the vineyards of the earlier 
days. Waste, decay and desolation are written all around. And yet 
it is not hard to see what might be done here with proper cultivation. 
The natives make raisins of the grapes that are produced and send 
them to distant markets. The pomegranates also abound in this 
vicinity. Dr. Thompson speaks of this fruit, which was greatly es- 
teemed. "There are several kinds of them," he says, "in this country. 
In Jebaah, on Lebanon, there is a variety perfectly black on the out- 
side. The general color, however, is a dull green, inclining to yel- 
low, and some even have a blush of red spread over a part of their 
surface. The outside rind is thin but tough, and the bitter juice of it 






IN HEBRON. 



20^ 



stains everything it touches with an undefined but indelible blue. 
The average size is about that of the orange, but some of those from 
Jaffa are as large as the ^^g of an ostrich. Within, the "grains " are 
arranged in longitudinal compartments as compactly as corn on the 
cob, and they closely resemble those of pale red corn, except that 
they are nearly transparent and very beautiful. A dish filled with 
these " grains " shelled out is a very handsome ornament on any table, 
and the fruit is as sweet to the taste as it is pleasant to the eye. They 




SOLOMON S POOL. 



are ripe about the middle of October, and remain in good condition 
all winter. Suspended in the pantry, they are kept partially dried 
through the whole year. The flower of the pomegranate is bell or 
tulip shaped, and is of a beautiful orange-red, deepening into crimson 
on some bushes. There is a kind very large and double, but this 
)cars no fruit, and is cultivated merely for its brilliant blossoms, which 
Are put forth profusely during the summer." 

The Cave of Machpelah is the wonder of the city. It is the 



2o6 ^IP VAN WINKLE'S TRAVELS. 

Westminster Abbey of Hebron. Here lie the bodies of Abraham, 
Isaac, ana Jacob, with their wives Sarah, Rebecca, and Leah. What 
a company sleeping together in death! For ages no Jew nor Christian 
was allowed to enter the cave. Death would have been the penalty 
had any adventurous traveller dared descend into the dismal abode 
But in 1862 the Prince of Wales and his suite were allowed to enter, 
and others have since followed. If you care to read more than I have 
written, you can obtain various details in the work of Dean Siuniey 
who accompanied the Prince of Wales, and who had facilities fot 
obtaining information which have been granted to no other travellei 
since the days of the Hebrew kings. 

Rip Van Winkle. 



IN EGYPT. 



207 



IN EGYPT. 




The Professor now leaves the land made sacred by the life^ 
memories and death of the Saviour of mankind, and with his compan- 
ions, journeys through the desert of Sinai, toward the dark coast of 
Egypt. He has been fortunate in finding so pleasant a party to travel 
with. The gentlemen composing it are men of culture, good habits, 
and rare ^onv^ersational powers, and Rip Van Winkle finds himselt a 
congenial spirit in their society. They agree to go to Egypt together, 
and so he can have the benefit of their company and kindness for 
many days to come. 

The pleasure of a foreign tour depends very much upon the good 
fempei and kindly spirit of those who travel together. Some parties 



2Qg RIP VAN WINKLE'S TRAVELS. 

Split asunder, and the persons comprising them separate before half 

their tour is over. Want of congenial tastes, varieties in disposition 

and temper \ead to this, and the party is broken up before it has had 

time for the v^arious persons to become acquainted with each other. 

It was not so in this case, but every day cemented the friendship 

between the men who had fallen into company. Mi-. Van Wert gives 

?his account of his experience in Egypt. 

Cairo. 

W^e have now reached the prominent Egyptian city. S^ou may 
care to hear how we got heie, and as if gives you some Oi my 
experience in camel riding, I may as well tell you about it. 

At Hebron, we took camels and horses, and joined some other 
parties who were to proceed through the desert of Egypt. Person^ 
who have never used these ships of the desert, as camels are callea. 
know little about the sensations of those who take passage on them, 

They soon become seasick on the dryest land, and get down from 
the hump with as much pleasure as a seasick boy lands from a yacht 
in New York harbor- To mount, to ride, and to dismount, art' 
rtil awkward proceedings. But we get used to each process. 

When v\^e have passed the boundaries of Palestine, and are out upo^ 
Lhe desert, the Arabs, who have been quiet and stolid in the town^ 
and cities, seem to be in their native element, and give themselves up 
to hilarity and mirth. They have thrown off the incubus whici 
civilization seems to put upon them, and are wild with jo}'. One da;;, 
two or three of them Cc<fme to u&, c^s. Wc rested for our lunch, and on-i 
said, — 

" Gentlemans." 

" Well, what is it? " inquired a gentleman whc)m we recognized as 
the unofficial leader of our caravan. 

" Aboo and me wants — " 

" What does ^ Aboo and me ' want.^ '* 

'^^To race." 







FIRST RIDE ON A CAMEL. 



2IO RIP VAN WINKLE'S TRAVELS. 

*^ Well, scamper off as fast a^ your legs can carry yoUo'" 

'^We not wants to go on our legs." 

" Whose legs do you want to go on ? " 

^^Dromedaries' legs." 

"What! a race with the ^ ships of the desert' o^^' 

"So you call him." 
V "Will there be fun in it? " 

" Yes, much fun." 

" Then go, and we will enjoy the fun." 

Then commenced a race between those huge animals, driven to 
desperation by their drivers. We followed on, but they soon out- 
stepped us, and in a little while became mere specks on the sand. 

How we reached the Sinaitic region, spent a night at the Monastery 
of St. Catherine, and gave some days to hunting for the veritable moun- 
tain on which the Law was given to Moses, may not be o. as much 
interest to you as it would to your older friends. I suppose you do 
not care much whether Jebel Musa, Jebel Serbal, or Moun*: Sufsafeh 
is the real Sinai, and, so I will pass over all our interesting investiga- 
tions in these localities, and take you at once to the land of the 
Nile. 

We passed the wells of Moses, and the palm trees of Elim, and 
striking the Red Sea near where it is supposed the Children of Israel 
crossed, entered the town of Suez. There we stopped one or two 
days, left our camels and took more modern vehicles. 

The town of Suez is a mean place, the streets narrow and 
unclean, the houses small and filthy, and everything about the neigh- 
borhood forbidding. Did not the exigencies of trade require the 
existence of the town, it would soon disappear. ^*The spot," says 
Dr. Randall, " from the very nature of the locality, seems destined 
as a resting-place for travellers. Situated upon the head waters of 
the sea — a place for embarkation whenever tiiere is any traffic upon 
its waters — the gate of entrance to the great Sinaitic peninsula, and 



212 



RIP VAN WINKLE'S TRAVELS. 




STREET IN SUEZ. 



since the establishment of Mohammedanism, a rallying place for pil« 
grims upon the great caravan route from Grand Cairo to Mecca. 
There has been a settlement here in some form from time immemo- 



IN EGyrT. 



213 



rial. Modern Suez, a ibw years ago a small, irxsignificant town, has, 
since the termination of the railroad here, rapidly increased in size 
and importance. It lies in about 30° of north latitude, and rrow 
contains some three thousand inhabitants. It is difficult to conceive 
of the barrenness and desolation that surrounds it. Washed upon 




it)WN OF SUEZ. 

one side by the waters of the sea, the barren wastes of desert encircle 
it upon the others. There is no fresh water within several miles 
of it, and then a very scanty supply. Most of the water used by the 
inhabitants, and all used by the engines, is brought from Cairo on the 
cars, and all the provisions are brought in from abroad. No green 
thing is seen in the vicinity, not a grass plat, not a tree- or a shrub, to 
relieve the gloomy, sterile monotony of the place." To exchange 



214 R^P VAN WINKLE'S TRAVELS. 

camels, horses and donkeys for steam cars was a novel thing. In 
doing it we seemed to have leaped over the lapse of four thousand 
years, from the time of Abraham to our da3^ But despite the vio- 
lence done to the romance of the thing, we were glad to do it. 

The ride to Cairo was not marked with many incidents. At one 
of the stopping places, we had an opportunity of seeing the state rail- 
way carriage of the Khedive of Egypt, and a marvel of elegance it 
was. I have seen gorgeous state carriages of European monarchs, 
and splendid trains of cars on the railroads of our own country, but 
nothing like this. I did not imagine that I should find in the desert 
the most gorgeous train of cars that I ever beheld, but so it was. 
The locomotive was a most elaborate combination of gold, silver and 
steel. The cars were exquisitely finished and furnished, the uphol- 
stery being silver and crimson. The state carriages of France and 
England are dowdy and tasteless, compared with this specii. c-n of 
oriental magnificence. 

On examination of the locomotive I found that it was made in the 
United States, though I presume the decorations were put on in 
Egypt. At the time we discovered the fact that the locomotive was 
made in this country, a vast crowd was gazing at it. An enthusi- 
astic countryman of ours was very proud that this gorgeous vehicle 
should be of American manufacture, so he pointed to the inscription, 
and significantly shouted, so as to be heard by hundreds of the gap- 
ing Egyptians, "Americana! Americana!" They answered with 
nods of affirmation. Then he pointed to himself and exclaimed, 
"Americana! Americana!" to indicate that he and the machine 
were both from the same country. With a shout the Egyptians 
responded, and the Yankee proudly retired. We thought there was 
something a little peculiar and suspicious in the shout, and asked our 
dragoman to tell us what idea the crowd had got from our friend. 
" They think he means," said the dragoman with a smile, " that h^ 
and the locomotive are both steam engines." 



IN EGYPT. 



ZIK 




STREET IN CAIRO. 



At every stopping-place along the way, we found large numbers 
oi persons who had something to sell at prices fabulously low: roasted 
chickens, hot, plump and well-cooked for three pence eachj eggs, 



jj5 RIP VAN WINKLE'S TRAVELS. 

well-boi'ied, four for a halfpenny; oranges, apricots, and other fruits, 
as much as one can carry away, for a trifle; bread, coffee, sand- 
wiches, cake, lemonade and strong drink, that curse alike of Orient 
and Occident. 

On the way the Nile is seen. The moment it comes in sight, the 
Arabs, who have seen it a hundred times before, crowd to the win 
dows of the cars, and shcut with pleasure, or gaze down upon its 
waters with silent delight. With an Egyptian the Nile is an object 
of great respect, if not of adoration. And well it may be so, for 
without it n Dt a single human being could subsist in that arid, scorch- 
ing region, il is rain and dew, food and drink, occupation and 
country, fa' her and mother, to thousands who subsist upon its 
products. 

On many accounts the Nile is the most wonderful river on the 
globe. It is not like your Mississippi, and your Ohio, and your Mer- 
rimac, ploughing on monotonously to the sea, bearing commerce like 
a dromedary, or turning water-wheels for millions of spindles like a 
slave. But from its unknown starting point, up in the land of mystery, 
it is full of romance, poetry, and fiction. Rising in a long undis- 
covered source, it comes down in two streams, — the White Nile and 
the Blue, — uniting near the city of Khartoom. On it rolls, washing 
the base of mighty pyramids, la^dng the shores of pathless deserts, 
traversing mighty deltas, and gi\ ng sustenance to a teeming popula- 
tion. In its flow it is charged r/ith a rich mud, which in times of 
inundation it deposits as a vigorous fertilizer all over the land. It 
knows just when an overflow is needed, and at the given time, it 
breaks its channels, and wildly rushes over the plains, returning again 
when its beneficent work is done, and sweeping on majestically, 
pours itself into the bosom of the mighty sea. 

We reached Cairo, the magnificent, about the middle of v:he 
afternoon, and repaired to the Hotel d'Orient, a sumptuous place, 
well worthy of the name it bears; and there being some time bemrs 



lA^ EGYPT. 



2T7 



night, concluded to take our first donkey ride. A3 a donkey ride :s 
an Egyptian institution, just as much as the street-car is an Americar. 
idea, I may as well describe it. 




KILOMETER. 



As we came down the grand staircase, and issued from the court, 
some fifty donkey-boys were standing in a line waiting ^for us, each 
Holding a donkey by the bridle. I knew my great Master rode into 



223 R^P P'AX IVIAKLE'S TRAVELS. 

Jerusalem on ^ach a beast, but for all that, could not help despising 
the ugl}^ animal. Ki^ long ears before, and his wilful heels behind, 
his perverse habits, mulish disposition, treacherous eye, and grizzly 
back, were alike repulsive. 

Then as I looked at the little creature, it seemed an act of 
cruelty for me to mount him, — I weighing two hundred pounds, and 
he about seventy-five pounds as I thought, apothecaries' weight! I 
was afraid I should break him down, his legs were so slender, and his 
bones so small. I seriously queried whether in justice I should 
not shoulder the donkey and give him the ride. But the boys 
decided that. They came around us with all sorts of recommenda- 
tions for their beasts, — 

"Here a donkey, — he do," cried one. 

" Here a good donkey, — very good," cried another. 

" This is real, right donkey," shouted a third. 

" Here is English Snooks donkey," ludicrously whined the next. 

"'^liere is Yankee-Doodle donkey," enthusiastically yelled 
another. 

This last recommendation decided me, and it was not long before 
I was on the back of Yankee-Doodle donkey, scampering with eight 
or ten of my companions, similarly mounted, through the streets 
of Grand Cairo. 

We had not gone far, however, before a shout arrested us, 
and we all drew up to see what the trouble was. We found a 
grave, dignified man, president of a university, and his beast, were 
unable to agree, and both of them being somewhat mulish, in the 
contest had rolled over together upon the ground. When we got 
back to them, they had both regained their feet, and it appeared to us 
as if the president had lost his temper and his dignity together, 
while plainly enough, do ikey stood laughing at him, as much as to 
say, — "Which is the gr'-.ater jackass, — you or I?" 

Again mounted, we drove to the Mosque of Mohammed Ah| 




THE MAMELUKE S LEAP. 



220 RIP VAN WINKLE'S TRAVELS. 

represented by the people of Cairo to be the most gorgeous edifice on 
the globe. The interior, which I cannot describe, is one blaze of 
splendor. The effect on entering is almost overpowering. The 
magnificent dome, the marble pillars, the arches of polished alabaster, 
the rich, stained glass, the hanging lights, the tinted mosaics, lend 
an indescribable charm to the structure, through which we walked, 
according to Moslem custom, with our hats on and our shoes off, 
mourning at the inadequacy of language to express the admiration 
we felt. 

The quadrangle of this mosque, overlooking the city, is memora- 
ble as the scene of one of those strokes of policy by which Moham- 
med Ali established himself in power, and sent terror to the hearts ot 
his foes. Learning that a conspiracy had been formed against him by 
the Mamelukes, he invited six hundred of their warriors to a banquet 
gotten up ior their destruction. They came without a suspicion of 
danger, but when they had assembled there, the doors of the citadel 
were closed upon them, and a murderous fire opened upon their 
doomed ranks. In vain they endeavored to break down the gates. 
Escape in all directions was cut off. Rank after rank fell before the 
fire of the concealed Albanian soldiery, until those brave warriors had 
all gone down before the leaden hail, and only one was left, and he, 
Ameen Bey, leaped his horse over a dangerous gap in the ramparts 
and escaped unhurt. 

This was the end of that brave outlaw race, of which Napoleon 
Bonaparte said, — "If I could have united the Mameluke horse to the 
French infantry, I would have reckoned myself master of the 
world." 

Near the mosque is Joseph's Well. It is saia to have been cut in 
the rock by the young Hebrew ruler. For ages after, it remained filled 
up with rubbish, and was discovered by Sultan Joseph, quite another 
character, who built the citadel in 171 1. These old builders certainly 
had an idea of greatness. Their pyramids, their monuments, and 




OBELISK OF THE TEMPLE OF THE SUN. HELIOPOI IS 



222 RIP VAN WINKLE'S TRAVELS. 

even their wells are vast. This one, cut in the solid rock, is two 
hundred and eighty feet deep, forty feet square at the top, and 
twenty-eight feet square at the bottom. A flight of steps cut in the 
s'jones leads from top to bottom, and the water is raised by an ox 
near the bottom, working the machinery which sends the water to 
the top. Looking down into this well seems like looking down into 
at. other world. 

On our poor donkeys we scampered about that strange city, now 
stopping to look at a mosque, then at a street fight, then at a wrangle 
between a dozen women, then at sop-.c? curious thing exposed for sale, 
then at a magician who was turning snakes into rabbits and toads 
into doves, having a queer time, in a hideous way. 

Were my travelling companions here, they would not be satisfied, 
did I Aot refer to an incident in which I acted a prominent, but 
not very graceful part. While driving back, through the noisy, 
boisterous streets, which were w^et and slippery, w^e all became a 
little excited with the novelty of our position, and driving much faster 
than it was safe to do with such animals, got into danger. Being in 
advance of my companions, one of ihem tried to push his donkey in 
front, and to save myself from contact with him, I turned in the other 
direction, and quite unfortunately came in contact with a donkey 
loaded with vegetables, a huge basket on each side. A collision took 
place, and quicker than I can relate it, the donkey with his load of 
vegetables was pitched over in one direction, w^hile my donkey with 
his load of vegetables was pitched over unceremoniously in the other 
direction. Behind were forty half mad beasts, ridden pell-mell 
by forty half crazy men, and to save myself from being trampled 
to death, I scrambled out the best way I could, without much regard to 
professional dignity. I found my mutilated hat, brushed my knees 
with a red bandanna handkerchief, and picking up my donkey, took 
him home. 

One day in Egypt is spent in a visit to Heliopolis, one of the most 



2-.* RIP VAN WINKLE'S TRAVELS. 

interesting places in the land to the biblical student. It is out of 
Cairo, se\en miles to the northeast. The city is repeatedly men- 
tioned in Scripture, under the names of Aven, On, and Bethshemish, 
It is now known entirely by its Greek name. It was anciently 
renowned for its literature, its temples, and its priesthood. It was to 
Egypt what Cambridge is to England — the University city, and in its 
schools Plato, Solon, and Eudoxus were educated; Moses, also, 
was probably instructed there, in all the lore of Egypt, and fitted 
intellectually for that career of greatness to which God had called 
him. At Heliopolis, Joseph found his wife Asenath, the daughter of 
the Priest or Prince of On, and, from certain remains found, som^ 
have supposed that his royal residence was there. 

We started out one morning in a carriage. A swift-footed fore- 
runner went in advance, with a huge horsewhip in his hands with 
which he lashed dogs, donkeys, and even men and women, uttering 
at each turning point a peculiar warning cry, that all less important 
personages than ourselves might clear the way and give us free 
passage. Soon we all were outside of the city limits, in the opcf 
country, and at once transported to Bible times. The same old wa}. 
of drawing water; the same old way of threshing wheat; the same 
old way of ploughing up the ground, — no improvement in four thou- 
sand years. 

The fertility of the soil is wonderful. All that is wanted is work. 
and water. Wherever a drop of water falls, a flower, or a blade of 
wheat seems to spring spontaneously, and if a company of Yankee 
farmers, with the improvements which have been made in agricul- 
tural instruments, could take that country, they would make it in tet? 
years the garden of the world. 

At Heliopolis there is little now to see. At one time it was one 
of the wonders of the earth. But time has swept its glories away 
and little is left. One of the obelisks which formerly stood here, 
we have seen, was removed to Luxor, thence to Paris; two went to 



IN EGYPT. 



22r 



Alexandria, and were dedicated to Cleopatra, but have again been 
removed, one to London, and the other to the Central Park in New 
York; three are at Rome, one adorns the terrace of St. Peter's, one 




GARUEX IN HELIOPOLIS. 

stands in Porta del Popolo, and the other is in the grounds of ttie 
Lateran. At Heliopolis there remains but little. The splendid 
temple of the sun, the groves of statues, the avenues- of sphinxes^ 
are gone, one tall obelisk, the sheik of obelisks, the Egyptians call iLj 

15 



226 



RIP VAN WINKLE'S TRAVELS. 



remains just where hands now dead placed it, four thousand years 
ago. The palace of the young Hebrew dreamer, the halls which 
Plato occupied, and which Strabo is said to have inspected as late ad 




MARY S TREE. 



twenty-four years B. C, are all swept away. The grand shaft bearing 
a monarch's name down through forty centuries alone remains. 

Near Heliopolis is a tree of great age, known as Mary's tree. 
Under it the Virgin Mary and the infant Jesus are said to have 



IN EGYPT. 



227 



rested in their sudden flight into Egypt. It is a tree of immense size, 
its boughs are all covered over with the names and initials of trav- 
ellers, and may have been here in the first century, as a thrifty syc- 
amore will live many centuries. What a comment on man! The 
hands which planted this tree have been paralyzed for eighteen hun- 
dred years, but the tree still lives. The men who sculptured yonder 
obelisk have been dead four thousand years, but the shaft is as per- 
pendicular as when set up! 

A day in Egypt is occupied in climbing the pyramids, and an 
eventful day it is. Early one morning we rode out of the city, and 
reached the Nile, opposite the beautiful little island of Roda, where- 
on tradition states that Moses was found by Pharaoh's daughter. 
Formerly this island was the abode of royalty, and since has been the 
pleasure ground to which the people have resorted for sport and 
recreation. The famous ^silometer on this island is an instrument to 
ascertain the daily rise and fall of the river. This is a matter of 
great importance, as the safety or destruction of the crops depend on 
the inundation. At certain seasons a crier in the streets of Cairo 
announces several times a day jusl; how high the water is. 

Dismounting we chartered a large boat with an awkward sail, and 
a sorry-looking crew, and naming her " Constitution," we embarked. 
A strange muss it was. A plank was put from the bank to the boat, 
and the donkeys driven in. Then the donkey boys crowded on 
board, for you must remember that when a man hires a donkey in 
Egypt he hires a boy to run behind, and -punch him! Often a man 
will be riding along, not dreaming of trouble, when the boy will give 
the beast a vigorous prick with the goad he carries in his hand, at 
which the spiteful little animal will fling his heels into the air, and 
tumble the rider over his head as quick as a flash. The whole thing 
is done in an instant, the prick, the fling, and the somersault. Imag- 
ine a grave, solemn man riding along making an oration, composing 
poetry, thinking if he owned the pyramids what he would do with 



*22S 



RIP VAN WINKLE'S TRAVELS. 



the Stones, and all at once flung over the donkey's head, and landed 
on his back in the sand! Think of him getting up, wiping his face 
with his red bandanna, looking at the donkey, looking at the boy, and 




A TRIP TO THE PYRAMIDS OLD STYLE. 

jthen mounting, looking as if '.e would like to kill the crowd of 
people who are laughing at his misfortune. 

Thes ^ doixKey boys will run all day long beside their beasts with 



230 



KIP VAN WINKLE'S TRAVELS. 



no apparent weariness. They are the sharpest littu^ cheats that the 
land contains, and from the time you take one into your service he is 
sponging you, in the most skilful manner, taking your pennies as 
a cunner will take your bait when you have a hook one-third too 
large, or do not know when to pull your line. 

When the donkeys and boys were all in, we followed — the 
former taking the stern, we the bows — the boat nicely balanced. 
The old way of crossing was on the shoulders of human beings, who 
were ready to be thus used for a consideration. 

Reaching the other side, and riding five or six miles over the arid 
plain, we come to the pyramids. These wonderful inhabitants of the 
desert may be described, but the impressions they produce upon 
the mind can never be expressed. As we approached, forty or fifty 
half clad Arabs came running out to meet us, and pressing their 
services as guides and assistants. 

On arriving at the pyramids the traveller contracts with the sheik 
of Gizeh for persons to take him up. Four persons generally ac- 
company each traveller. It takes four Arabs to do what one 
Yankee could easily perform. One takes hold of the right hand; 
one of the left hand; the third pushes in the rear; while the fourth 
carries a bottle of water to be used in case the traveller faints. The 
time occupied in ascending is from fifteen to thirty minutes according 
to the locomotive powers of the traveller. We agreed with the 
sheik to pay him a dollar each for the services of his men to take us 
to the top. Sometimes men go up without assistants, but it is dan- 
gerous unless the person is very spry, wiry, and used to climbing. 

Before proceeding farther let me describe the pyramids them- 
selves as they stand on the edge of the desert. The group we visit 
is three in number, though at a little distance are the pyramids 
of Aboo Seer, and still beyond, the pyramid of Sakhara; and farther 
away the pyramids of Dashoor — indeed Egypt has pyramids rising 
from her burnine sands in all directions. 



IN EGYPT. 



231 



The great pyramid — Cheops, the one to which we shall now pay 
attention, is built upon a vast ledge of hard limestone rock, which 
has been excavated some ten feet or more to make the foundation. 
It is constructed of huge blocks of red granite, probably from the 
quarries of Tourah. The ledge forming a plateau is one hundred and 
thirty-seven feet above the level of the Nile. The pyramid was 
originally built in layers, forming steps, and then covered with 
marble or alabaster, forming a perfectly smooth surface, but the outer 
covering has been removed, leaving the ragged steps, which have 
been beaten smooth by the hand ot time and the footsteps oi 
^avellers. 




PYRAMID OF DASHOOR. 



Cheops covers a*^ area of thirteen acres — Boston Common has 
onl}^ forty-eight acres. The length of each side of the pyramid is 
seven hundred and fifty-seven feet: the original perpendicular height 
was four hundred and eighty, but the upper twenty feet have been 
removed. The solid contents of masonry in this immense structure 
amount to eighty-five million cubic feet, and the weit^ht of the stone 
must be enormous. 



232 



RIP VAN WINKLE'S TRAVELS. 



I took up an American paper, which had reached me here on the 
day when I wrote this, and saw advertised several farms. One was 
a nice farm of ten acres; another was a pretty place of twelve acres. 
Another was a farm of thirteen and a half acres, just the size of the 
original base — a half acre having been carried away. On this place 
is the domicile, the barn, the flower beds, the vegetable lot, the 
pasturage, and all the departments of a New Jersey farm. And it is 
just the size of Cheops. By thinking of such a farm, how long it 
takes to walk over it, what is done on it, how many persons it will 
support, you get the best idea of the base of this pile of stone. 

It is, with the top taken off", four hundred and sixty feet high. 
Now one of the tallest steeples in New York is that which tapers 
above Trinity Church on Broadway, but that is only two hundred and 
eighty-four feet high. Put the Grace Church spire above that, and a 
man swinging on the wind vane would think he was pretty well up, 
but let him sit on the lightning-rod there, and he would not be as 
high up as the original peak of Cheops. Bunker Hill monument can 
be seen far out to sea, and the view from its top is a wonderful 
panorama of cities, towns, mountains, and seas. A man on the top 
grows dizzy as he gazes down upon the world below. But that is 
only two hundred and twenty-one feet high. Lift the new Soldiers' 
Monument on Boston Common and let it stand on the top of Bunker 
Hill shaft, then add a respectable church spire to that, and you have 
got no higher than the pyramid. 

It was mighty Cheops that we ascended. The number of steps is 
two hundred and six, formed by the layers of stone. You will see at 
once that the climbing must be very tedious — the steps often being 
but a few inches wide, and the perpendicular riser from two to six 
feet in height. 

Everything being ready, we started up at one of the corners, 
windincr back and forth over the an^le in a ziofzasf direction. It is 
common for these villainous guides to get a traveller halfway up, and 



IN EGYPT. 



'2'Z7s 



when his head reels, and he has become dizzy by looking down, to 
demand money of him, or threaten to leave him where he is. The 
day before we ascended a party of Englishmen were served this way, 
and all the" money they had with them, about thirty pounds, extorted 
from them. A man halfway up, whose head begins to reel, well 




ASCENT OF THE PYRAMID. 

knows that he is at the mercy of the wretches. He cannot advance 
nor retreat without them, though with their aid a lady may ascend in 
perfect safet3\ You can conceive that a man sitting on a narrow 
shelf of rock, a hundred feet higher than the spire of Trinit}^ Church, 
with a dizzy spell coming on, will be in a most uncomfortable 



234 



RIP VAN WINKLE'S TRAVELS. 



position to quarrel with the guides on whom he is dependent. When 
he gets thoroughly frightened, as one not used to climbing, and not 
acquainted with Arab character and tricks, is likely to be, he is willing 
to give almost any sum to be taken down or carried to the top. 

My Arabs started with the rest, chanting a monotonous sort 
of doggerel in broken English, in which was a constant demand for 
backsheesh. When about one-fourth of the way up, they said, " Sit 




PYRAMID OF SAKHARA. 



down — rest," so I sat down, and the Arabs at once demanded 
" Backsheesh," uttering that everlasting word sometimes in a 
threatening tone, and sometimes in a piteous whine. I positively 
refused, told them of the contract I had made with the sheik, and 
Dade them proceed. When about half the way up, they again 
groaned, told me I was the heaviest man they had ever taken, 
and wanted backsheesh. But I was inexorable, and asked one 
of them honv much he thotight I -weighed f ^^ Ton! — ton!! — 
TON!!!" the fellow provokingly replied. On starting again, not 



IN EGYPT. 



235 



willing to be considered the heaviest mortal that ever ascended the 
P3'ramid, 1 sprang as lightly as possible from step to step. Soon they 
wanted to rest again, and on pretence of rubbing my knees to prevent 
lameness, one of them got his hand on my pocket, in which was an 
empty purse, the condition a pedagogue's purse is generally in. At 
this discovery he was wild with delight. "Sovereign," — "Napoleon,'' 
— "gold," — " backsheesh," he shouted with the utmost enthusiasm. 
We were then four hundred feet from the ground, and the next effort 
would bring us to the top, but the guides would not proceed. They 
wanted one pound each as "backsheesh." At this time I had lost sight 
of my companions, it being a part of the Arab trick to get travellers 
separated, and for this purpose have different paths of ascending. 
Resolutely they refused to proceed, and weary and faint, I sat down 
on the Qdi^Q. of the stone, calculating my chances of ever getting to 
the summit. The constant demand was for backsheesh, which I as 
absolutely refused to give. I told them that if they did not wish to 
assist me I would go up alone. They laughed at this, and coolly told 
me a story, with an instructive moral to it. They said that a shorf 
time before they started up with an English gentleman, and when 
they had reached the very stone on which I was sitting, they 
demanded money, and he, indignant and angry, started on without 
them. On reaching the third or fourth step above where we sat, he 
lost his self-control, and, falling, rolled over to the bottom of the 
pyramid, a mangled, ghastly mass of fiesh. With violent gesticulation 
and vehement language, they pointed to the rocks against which his 
lifeless body bounded as it fell, and in infernal gibberish described his 
awful appearance, as they found him at the base. 

This recital did me good service; I had been sick for three or four 
days, and was in no condition to make the ascent, but the cruel, 
provoking manner in which they told the story, which was doubtless 
a lie, had the effect of the most potent tonic. Until then my courage 
had been oozing out of the ends of my fingers, and my head swim- 



236 



RIP VAN WINKLE'S TRAVELS. 



ming with dizziness, but I was all right at once. Then ensued a little 
scene which I will not describe lest it savor of egotism, the result of 
which was that we went to the top, as fast as our feet could fly from 
stone to stone. I think the fellows came to the conclusion that a man 
pretty well frightened and desperate might use a revolver if he had 
one, so as to hurt somebody, even if he was not a hero. 

The removal of the upper courses of stone has left a level 
platform about thirty feet square. Travellers, when they reach 
the top, do what is most natural to them. A party ol ladies and 
gentlemen will often have a dance; some take a game of cards; 
some dine; some sing, and some make experiments and take 
observations. We took dinner there, sang ^^ America," and " Old 
Hundred," carved our immortal names in the stone, and made various 
investigations interesting to ourselves. 

It is yet a question as to the purpose for which the pyramids were 
erected. Some suppose they were built solely to commemorate the 
reign of some Egyptian sovereign. But there seems to be evidence 
that they were used, if not intended for scientific purposes. This was 
the opinion of Herschel, who gave several facts in support of the theory. 
i have been very much interested in the pyramidic investigations of 
C. Piazzi Smyth, astronomer royal for Scotland. He claims that 
Cheops stands apart, and is to be distinguished from all the other 
pyramids of Egypt, not only on account of its size, but by certain 
secret signs and figures which are found all over the structure, and 
which have been discovered wrought into stones which the builders 
supposed never would be exposed to view. He argues that while the 
work was carried on under the direction of the Egyptian government, 
the labor was performed by the worshippers of the true God, 
probably the children of Israel, for the measurements of the interior 
walls, and the capacity of the " great coffer," as it is called, are not 
according to any Egyptian standards, but compare exactly with those 
in use among the Jews from the earliest ages. The secret symbols 



IN EGYPT. 2'? 7 

carved in the stone, and the standard of measurement known first 
among the followers of the true God, and never recognized by the 
Egyptians, indicate that the Hebrew slaves, before the Exodus, were 
employed in their construction. It is well known that the industrial 
arts of Egypt, especially the sculpture and the pottery manufactures 
were in their hands. Vast beds of broken, crushed pottery ware are 
now found not far from the pyramids, though they may be of later 
date. 

C. Piazzi Smyth says the pyramid was built in the year 2170 B. C. 
He obtains this number from the Pleiades, the position of which 
he thinks governed the location and dimensions of the passage-ways 
leading-into the interior apartments. Herodotus dates the erection of 
the structure at about twenty-four hundred years B. C. The latter 
wrote historically, while the former follows the exactness of science. 
The pyramid bears the planetary configuration of the zodiac at the 
time of its erection, — a position the heavenly bodies have occupied 
but once since the creation of the world. The date of the pyramidal 
configuration, Piazzi Smyth finds to be 2170 B.C. The most emi- 
nent Egyptologists fix the Exodus at 1490 B.C. If these calcula- 
tions are correct, the pyramids were built six hundred and eighty 
years before the captivity. This would exclude the idea of the work 
being done by the children of Israel, as their captivity lasted but four 
hundred and thirty years, according to Hebrew authority. But this 
question we leave for those who have given it attention. 

Our descent was easy. The Arabs did not trouble me for 
backsheesh, but we went leaping down the stones at a merry rate. 
This was exciting, but not a little dangerous. Had the guides let go 
my hand for a single moment, from carelessness or anger, I should 
not have been here to write this letter. The sense of relief at stand- 
ing again upon the solid earth was immense. 

The interior of the pyramid is explored with lighted torches, a' 
considerable risk to the neck and ribs. The structure was formerlv 



23^ 



RIP VAN WINKLE'S TRAVELS. 



hermetically sealed, but an entrance was effected by Caliph Mamoon 
in 820. The treasures he expected to find were not there, and after 
much work, he gave up the effort in disgust. The guides being ready 
with candles, we entered the narrow psissage on a level with the 
desert sand, and by bending nearly to ^he floor managed to crawl 
down an inclined way about eighty feet. Leaving 'his passage, which 
goes down on the same angle, two hundred and twenty-five degrees, 
to a horizontal passage one hundred and fifty feet long, in which is 
an open chamber with a deep well in it, when you are more than a 
hundred feet "below the base line of the pyramid, you ascend a passage 
into the grand gallery, from which proceeds at another angle, a 
passage leading to the Queen's Chamber, directly under the apex of 
the pyramid. Just at the point where the passage branches from the 
gallery, is the well, which descends in an irregular course to the pas- 
sage which I have described below. Passing along the spacious 
gallery we are led to the King's Chamber, in the heart of the stony 
monster. 

The King's Chamber is about thirty-four feet long, eighteen feet 
wide, and twenty feet high. Above it are several smaller rooms, 
designed, perhaps, as ante-rooms. The Queen's Chamber is smaller. 
Lj»^th are cased with red granite blocks, fitted closely and highly 
wrought. In the King's Chamber is the Coffer, or Sarcophagus, a 
stone trough, seven and a half feet long, three feet wide, and about 
three feet deep. It must have been placed here when the pile was in 
process of erection, for the passage into the chamber is too small to 
have allowed it to pass through. In the rooms above the King's 
Chamber are certain hieroglyphics painted on the stones, bearing 
evidence that they were brought there before the stones were placed 
in position. The name of Cheops is also found. And this one 
word, "Cheops," is his only biography; nay, the pyramid is his biog- 
raphy. It has stood four thousand years, and it will stand until the 
day of judgment, — the memorial of Cheops. But who was Cheops? 



TN EGYPT. 



*39 




THE SPHINX. 



Some one has made a calculation, that if the pyramid were exca« 
iated. and turned into a hotel, it has space enough for tw-enty- 
two thousand two hundred apartments, twelve feet square. If 



2^0 



RIP VAN IV/JVKLE'S TRAVELS. 



the Structure stood in New York some of our great capitalists 

would doubtless utilize it in that way, or some other equally as 

practical. 

I When we came out of the pyramid we were streaming with 

perspiration, and covered with dust and the soft powder of the 

passage, which has been ground beneath pilgrim feet for a thousand 

years. 

Near by is the Sphinx, that stupendous mystery, once an object of 
worship, now the wonder of every beholder. It is a huge ligure, carved 
solid from the ledge on which it stands. The body is that of a lion, 
one hundred and twenty-eight feet long, in a recumbent position, now 
covered with desert sand. A human head and shoulders rises from 
the lion's breast. The circumference of the head is ninety feet. 
There it stands among the pyramids, looking out over the plain. We 
hailed it but it answered not. We inquired of it the history of 
deserted Gizeh, and the meaning of those mammoth piles, but it did 
not reply. Silent as when the Egyptians came to worship it, it stands 
marked and battered by the hand of time. 

I must omit a description of a visit to the Petrified Forests, where 
are the steps of petrified palaces; another visit to the Palace of 
Shoobra, the old Palace of Mohammed AH; another to the tombs 
of the Mameluke Kings, and to various objects of interest, and speak 
of life on the Nile. 

I have told you in a former letter about the funeral customs of 
Egypt. They are very peculiar, and would shock the tastes and 
feelings of people in our own and European countries. But to the 
people here, their way of doing seems proper and best. Bodies are 
still embalmed, and the trade in mummy cases, which are often most 
elaborate and expensive, is largely carried on. We should shrink 
from having the dead bodies of our friends put through the process to 
which the bodies of the dead here are subjected, but custom makes it 
right. 



s?^— AHji i'_iffr^"";^^'Ti"^''' ""-i^^f wsiflfm' 




24^ 



RIP VAN WIXKLE'S TRAVELS. 



The marriage customs of Egypt are, if possible, more peculiar than 
the funereal observances, and of all grotesque things a marriage pro- 
cession is the most grotesque. "In marriage," says Dr. Randall, "the 
preliminary process of courtship is not called into requisition. The 

lady belongs to the father; 
he sets his price upon her, 
regulated according to the 
dignit}' of his own position 
and her beaut}-. She is 
to be bought, not won. 
The price is said to range 
from five to thirty dollars. 
The bargain completed, 
the bridegroom receives a 
green branch of a tree 
or shrub, which he sticks 
in his turban, and wears for 
three days, to show that he 
is espoused to a virgin. 
During all this time the 
young lady may be totally 
ignorant of the transaction. 
She comes home, perhaps, 
at evening, having been cut, 
like Rebecca of old, leading 
her faSier's flocks. A short 
distance from the camp she 
is met by her intended,' accompanied by a couple of his young 
friends, who adroitly seize her and carry her by force to her father's 
tent. In this, however, great caution and expertness are necessary, for 
if the damsel at all suspects. their designs before they get near enough 
to seize her, she fights like a fury, defending herself with stones, and 




MUMMY CASES. 



244 ^^^ VAN WINKLE'S TRAVELS. 

often inflicting severe wounds, though she may not feel altogether 
indifferent to her lover. Thn defence is desert etiquette, and the 
more she struggles, bites, kirks and screamr , the higher she ever 
afterwards stands in the estimation of her companions. At last van- 
quished and carried to her tent, one of the bridegroom's friends 
throws a covering over her head, and then pronounces the name of 
her husband, of which, up to that moment, she may have been entirely 
ignorant. She is then arrayed by her mother and female friends in 
a new costume, placed upon the back of a gaily decked camel, and 
though still struggling to release herself from the grasp of her hus- 
band's friends, she is paraded three times around the tent. She is 
then, amid the shouts of the assembled encampment, carried into the 
tent, and the ceremony is over." 

On the Nile. 

I Started on my tour up the Nile, with the idea that I was to 
derive a pleasure from the excursion that could be found scarcely 
any^'here else, and in that was not disappointed, for every hour spent 
on this famous river was full of interest and pleasure. We took 
a boat, — a dahabieh, and began our voyage. This boat was just 
large enough to accommodate our party and the sailors who went 
<N\\ki us. Two Yankee seamen would have done as well as our crew 
of ten, certainly one Yankee to five river Arabs. The dahabieh has 
a saloon, a cabin, with beds for a number of persons. The men who 
navigate them are not expected to want beds. They sleep on deck, 
or any where else that they can find a spot to lie down. The sails 
were very awkward ones, but sufficient for the purpose. 

Our first landing was at Bedresbayn, whence we proceeded to 
the ruins of ancient Memphis. Perhaps the object of the greatest 
interest in this detour made from the boat is the Stepped Pyramid, 
which is thought by some to be older than Gizeh. When Joseph 
was in Egypt, Memphis, now in ruins, was the capital, and the 
residence of the king. Cairo is comparatively of modern origin, but 



IN EGYPT. 



245 



Memphis dates back to those days when pyramids were built, and the 
Pharaohs were on the Eg3^ptian throne, and that land, now so fallen, 
was the patron of art and literature, and men came from all parts of 
the world to behold its glory. 

Still floating on we have a fine opportunity to become acquainted 
with the climate, people, and natural scenery of the country. Along 




NILE BOAT. 



the Nile are the various modesof drawing water from the river, for the 
purpose of irrigation. The familiar water-wheel meets the eye very 
frequently, and the shadoof is seen working in its primitive way, 
doubtless as it did in the times of Joseph. 

We become acquainted with the birds, fishes, and sometimes too 
familiarly with the reptiles of the river. We float along close to the 



24^ 



RIP VAN WINKLE'S TRAVELS. 



shore, where several crocodiles are seen lying lazily in the hot sun, 
and some of them are so huge that it seems as if their open jaws 
might crush the little boat, and annihilate it with its occupants. But 
the ugly creatures do not trouble you unless you trouble them. It 
would hardly be safe, however, to be found amongst them on the 
shore. The}' are savage fellows, and do not allow any familiarities. 

While the monsters form an unpleasant feature of Nile scenery, 
the beautiful flowers growing on the banks, or floating on the surface, 




STEPPED PYRAMm. 



are very attractive. The lotos growing in the water was once one of 
the most common of Egyptian plants. The flower was used for 
decorations on all occasions. At funerals, at weddings, at religious 
festivals it was seen. On the tombs and monuments of the dead, it is 
often found engraved. But it has disappeared. In some dry season, 
it withered and died out. The papyrus, which was also so very com- 
mon ages ago, is gone. 

Y. is very easy to see how the plants should disappear from some 



IN EGYPT. 247 

parts of Egypt, but why water plants should die out ot the Nile, and 
the seed be lost, is not quite so plain. 

At Thebes and Karnac, we saw the glories of ancient ruins. It is 
hard for imagination to depict the beauties of these ancient palaces 
and halls when they were in their early elegance. 



WATER-WHEEL. 



" Thebes," says one writer, " must have been the greatest and most 
magnificent city in Egypt. Almost as old as the flood, situated in a 
fertile valley, where it expanded to a vast and splendid amphitheatre, 
and adorning both banks of the Nile, it was in extent, wealth, and 
<irchitectural glory, the flower and crown of ancient civilization. 
Nearly a thousand years before Christ, Homer sang ci its hundred 



248 



RIP VAN WINKLE'S TRAVELS. 



gates, and some of the Sacred Prophets speak of it as- being ^ pop- 
ulous,' or containing a ' multitude.' No one can visit its present 
unparalleled ruins, or linger among the gorgeous mausoleums of its 
kings and princes, without being deeply impressed with a sense of 
its former vastness and grandeur. The contrast suggested by the 
present Thebes, a miserable representative even of Arab filth and 
squalidness, is overwhelmingly powerful; and the imagination is 




NILE MONSTERS. 



continually struggling to restore and repeople the city, and look upon 
its splendor ere it was devastated by the Persian conqueror. But these 
mournful relics and the utter desolation of the once imperial meti"op- 
olis teach most impressive lessons« 

'Thousands of ^ears have rolled along, 
And blasted empires in their pride ; 
And witnessed scenes of crime and wrong, 
Till men by nations died. 

Thousands of summer-suns have shone. 

Till earth grew liright beneath their sway, 
winr.; tnou, untenanted and lone, 

Wert renaered to decay.' " 



IN EGYPT. 



«49 




LOTOS. 



The wish comes in- 
stinctively that we could 
see these cities rise again, 
and in their early mag- 
nificence stand before 
us. But that is never to 
be. Rome may rise from 
its ruins; Jerusalem may 
become the metropolis of ^ 
wealth and power again, 
but Karnac and Thebes 
can never rise. They 
are too far from the paths 
of commerce, too remote from the centres of trade, too near the 
burning sands of the desert, to suit the progress of modern life. 

Concerning the grand temple at Karnac, the writer from whom I 

have just quoted, and whose 
work I had in my hand as I 
walked amid those stupen- 
dous ruins, says: "A mile 
and a half north of Luxor 
arc the ruins of Karnac, the 
grandest temple in Egypt, if 
not in the world. I visited it 
just about evening, enjoying 
as I returned as gorgeous a 
sunset as mortal vision could 
desire. Ah ! wnac varied 
scenes, what splendid page- 
ants, what ages of glory and 
decay, that setting sun has wit- 
PAPYRus. nessed here. It is impossible 




250 



RIP VAN WINKLE'S TRAVELS. 




PROPYLON AT KARNAC. 



to describe Karnac. One must see it, or he will have no adequate idea 
oi lis astonishing magnitude and beauty. Such an array of massive 



IN EGYPT. 2 SI 



gates, towers, columns, obelisks, and statues is a perfect marvel. Think 
of a temple, including its various halls and apartments, twelve hundred 
feet long, and about five hundred feet wide, its massive walls rising 




COLUMN OF THOTHMES III. 



like palisades, and its immense pillars like forests, with avenues 
leading to it from each point of the compass, along which, in some 
"nstances for miles, were ranged double rows of colossal sphinxes 



2c;2 R^P VA^ WIN ■'CLE'S TRAVELS'. 

of gray, rec, and black granite. The edifice is said to have occupied 
about seventy-five acres, it having been enlarged from time to time. 
by different monarchs, each striving to outdo his predecessor. In the 
grand hall there are still standing over a hundred columns, nine 
to twelve feet in diameter, and many of them over sixty feet high. 
All are covered with various hieroglyphical sculptures and paintings, 
whose colors are still bright after the lapse of nearly forty centuries. 
In one place you see a group of Jews led captive by an Egyptian king. 
The characters interpreted agree with the Bible account of Shishak's 
victory over the King of Judah, — a striking verification of the 
sacred record." 

In floating along the Nile, the traveller accustomed to the matter- 
of-fact scenes of American or European travel, seems to be in a 
constant dream, from which he is seldom aroused. The customs of 
the people, and the antiquity of the different objects, give an idea of 
unreality to everything 

Not a few of the customs would furnish the boys of the Triangle 
room for mirth. But of them I must tell you at some other time. 
We kept the Nile until near its head waters beyond the cataracts, 
and then our party returned, leaving me to pursue my journey alone 
through Nubia, Abyssinia, and Zanzibar. 

Rip Van Winki^e. 



/i\ SOUTHERN AFRICA, 



253 



IN SOUTHERN AFRICA. 




GYPSY TEir: 



'^Good-bye, gentlemen," said Rip Van Winkle, as his late 
friends and fellow travellers stood on board their boat to go down the 
Nile, leaving him at Aboo Sambool or Ipsamboul. 

The " good-bye " was returned. 

"May you have as pleasant a voyage down the Nile as we .have 
had up." 

" And may you have a fine tour through the country to your 
destination." 

"Farewell." 



254 



KIP VAN WINKLE'S TRAVELS. 



'^^ Farewell," came back from the boat in a chorus of voices. 

The little craft was soon gliding down the stream, and the Maste, 
saw his friends no more. With a somewhat sad face he turned away 
to make arrangements for a long and tedious journey to the distant 
coast. Wc will let him speak for himself. 

Zanzibar. 

A long leap from the Nile! And a hard leap you would have 
said if you had taken it. At Aboo Sambool, the first party with 




TEMPLE OF IPSAMBOUL. 



which I had been travelling, concluded to turn back to Cairo; I con- 
cluded to keep on. 

Ipsamboul is on the west side of the Nile, in Nubia, and has some 
very perfect specimens of ancient temples. The great temple, so- 
called, is a marvellous ruin, the carved figures being distinguished yet 
for their expressiveness and beauty. Some one says of them, "The mas- 



/A' SOUTHERN AFRICA, 2i;r 

terpieces of Greece, higher in rank, have nothing to match with the 
mystic beauty of these." 

Before leaving the Nile entirely, I know the boys will wish me to 
say something about that which will interest them more than ruin 
and effigies however magnificent. I can imagine a flood of questions. 

" Did you have any hunting or shooting on the Nile," I think I 
hear Hal ask, 

"O yes, plenty of it. The birds of Egypt are very numerous v 




ONE OF THEM. 



variety, «nd are easily shot. Some of the birds are sacred, and their 
destruction is prohibited. But 'Others can be taken without restriction.'' 

"What kind of birds are they?" perhaps Hal asks. 

Storks, cranes, pelicans, ducks, herons, pigeons, geese, and smaller 
Birds are plenty enough for any sportsman. An Englishman who 
visited Egypt for sporting and remained there two months, is reported 
to have shot five thousand five hundred and seventy-six birds in all, ol 



RIP VAN WINKLE S TRAVELS: 



256 

which one thousand five hundred and fourteen were wild geese. 
Partridge and quails are found all along the river. 

"What kind of fish did you find?" perhaps Will asks. 




ELECTRIC SHAD. 



Well, we v^ere fortunate in fish, also. The Nile has many 
varieties, and they are taken with hook, net, and spear. 
"What are they? " do you ask. 
Weil, there is the electric shad, a nice fellow that will giv« you 




TETRODON. 



a shock that will make your arm ache if you touch him. Then there 
is the tetrodon, which some one says "looks like a pumpkin with a 
tail," twinkling eyes, and a little laughing mouth with four teeth. 
He is the most funny fish I ever saw Then there are the ka- 
nooma, and the finny pike, which are taken in large quantities, 



IN SOUTHERN AFRICA. 257 

and are sold in the tish markets by dealers, who do a large 
business." 

But enough for fish and fowl. After the party had left me, I went 
to the place where an English official had an office for the transac- 
tion of business, and made inquiries as to how I should reach this 




KANOOMA. 



place, and after much conversation, concluded to take a couple 
of Nubian dragomen, and go through without waiting for the chance 
of friendly company of my own color. I was directed to a Bedouin 
and his son, who were trusty, and who were well acquainted with the 
country. I found them sitting in their tent, and told them what I 




i. INNY PIKE. 



wanted. They were ready to go, and on the third day after, three 
camels and their riders started across the country. The two dragomen 
whom I had hired were very pleasant and agreeable men, and knew 
enough of English to make themselves understood in that language. 
Aboo, the father, seemed scarcely older than his son, and yet the son 
was a model of respectful reverence for his sire worthy the imitation 

17 



258 



RIP VAN WINKLES TRA VELS. 



of the boys in our country. The name of the son was SeHm. He 
was quick, active, and had a fine eye. Would you Hke to see Aboo 
and Sehm.^ Here they are. 




ABOO AND SELIM, 



IN SOUTHERN AFRICA. 



259 



The journey was a long one, at times by land, and at times by water, 
exchanging our camels for boats; a part of the way inland, and a part 
of the way along the coast. Aboo and Selim were faithful to the end, 
and after paying them for their services I parted from them with regret. 

On reaching Zanzibar, — which is the chief town of an island of the 
same name, on the southeast coast of Africa, separated by a narrow 
creek of water from Zan- 
guebar, the main land, — I 
repaired to an inn which is 
the resort of British and 
American seamen, where I 
found a rough but honest 
crowd of people, represent- 
ing these two nations. The 
place is said to have thirty 
thousand inhabitants, made J 
up of several distinct na- 
tionalities. The town is 
distinguished for its trade 
in slaves, and in other days 
when the traffic in human 
beings was more brisk than 
it now is, a great number 
of blacks were':, -ought here 
to be shipped to other na- 
tions. The exports consist 01 ivory, hides, tortoise shell, dates, 
pepper, gum, sugar, coft'ee, and other articles. It is common to see 
the flags of a half dozen nations waving in the harbor. 

The houses are poor, being built of very light materials, those in 
which the negro population live being of bamboo, covered with palm- 
leaves. There are few buildings of even moderate ' pretensions 
to elegance outwardly, judged from a European standpoint. 




LIFE IN THE INTERIOR. 



26o 



RIP VAN WINKLE'S TRAVELS. 




ZANZIBAR. 



It was not my purpose to stay here long, and quickly as possible 
I arranged to leave. I found a vessel under an American flag, bound 
to Madagascar, and was soon on the wa3^ Zanzibar, as seen from 
the sea, is very pretty; and yet, gazing over from the stern of the 
vessel, I could not regret that I was leaving it far behind me, never to 
see it again. 

Madagascar. 

Our vessel, after a few terrific squalls, brought us to Tamatave, 
which is, perhaps, the most important seaport on the east coast. I 
proceeded at once to see what was possible of the island, which is the 
largest of the African islands, having an area of two hundred and forty 
thousand square miles of territory, a great part of which is dense 
forest. Walking along a street in Tamatave does not remind one 
of the fashionable streets of our own cities. I found the people very 
hospitable and kind, much more so than at Zanzibar, and every facility 
was furnished me to see all I could of the island. And this was not 
much, for while there was not much to see in the towns, I was not 
prepared to venture much into the interior. The natives of the in- 



IN SOUTHERN AFRICA. 26 1 

terior are hardly to be trusted by a single-handed and unprotected 
stranger. 

The rivers swarm with crocodiles, compared to which, in length and 
ferocity, those of the Nile are said to be insignificant. The forests are 
filled with wild animals, and large birds, while the lesser inhabitants, 
monkeys, foxes, squirrels, dogs, cats, wild hogs, baboons and wolves, 
are very common. Outside the town, the traveller, by day and bjl 
night is obliged to encounter huge serpents, some of which are quite 
venomous and dangerous. So you can see that the interior of Mada- 
gascar would not be a very beautiful place for a summer residence 
or a country home. The fruits are very fine. Bread-fruit, bananas, 
plantains, yams, oranges, peaches, and other kinds of fruit abound. 
The cocoa-nut here grows to great size and excellence. The foliage 
is rich, and where it does not hide some biting, stinging creature, it 
furnishes delight, fragrance and shelter to man. The native homes, 
found scattered all over this island, are not models of architecture, 
but they are comfortable to live in and not unpleasant to the eye« 
The climate allows of the most meagre shelter at night, and the 
natives do not care to have anything more inserted in their homes 
than is absolutely required. As the interior is reached, the houses 
are found to be mere huts in which the creatures may crouch and 
be protected from the scorching sun of noonday, and from the wild 
beasts that are liable to make an unceremonious visit at night. 

The natives are low in the scale of being. "Their mental facul- 
ties," says a writer who has thoroughly examined their condition, 
" though, in a majority of cases, deteriorated by sensuality, enfeebled 
and cramped in their exercise by the juggleries of divination and sor- 
cery, and the absurdities of superstition, are yet such as to warrant 
the conclusion that they are not inferior to otheif portions of the 
human race; that if liberated from the debasing trammels by which 
they are now confined, and favored with enlightened and generous 
culture, they are capable of high mental excellence. Among the 



262 ^^P ^^^ WINKLE'S TRAVELS. 

dark colored races, the Sakalavas manifest the greatest intellectual 
vigor, uniting a remarkable quickness of perception with soundness of 
judgment." As much as this might be said of the freedmen of the 
Southern States of America. But it would not mark the average 
freedman with high intellectual qualities, whatever might be the 
result of years of improvement. 



STREET IN TAMATAVE. 



We have seen it stated that the people of Madagascar are terribly 
given to lying, that truth seems to be the exception rather than the 
rule, that lying is not regarded as a vice or a defect of character, but 
if done adroitly, an excellence, and that when the Gospel was preached 
among them at first, it was opposed on the ground that it taught 
people to tell the truth, and condemned falsehood. 1 incline to the 
opinion that deception is characteristic of all the African races that I 
have seen. Those tribes that are kind and hospitable to strangers, 



IN SOUTHERN AFRICA. 



263 



arid that live at peace among themselves, are given to lying and 
deception to a fearful extent. But while given to lying, they are, to 
a great extent, free from the evils of strong drink. Drunkenness is 
seldom seen in any of the interior villages. Where white men have 
set up trade, there liquor is found and drank, but where the Mada- 
gascans have control, temperance is the rule. It is very unusual 




FOLIAGE IN MADAGASCAR. 



to see a native drunk. This should be said to their commendation. 
The seaports, however, show the same amount of drunkenness that 
is witnessed wherever European or American seamen are found in 
large numbers. As at Tangier, Algiers, Tripoli and Alexandria, so 
it is at Tamatave. 

The capital of Madagascar is Tananarivo, a considerable place of 
nearly thirty thousand inhabitants, and with more of the characteris- 
tics oi a city than most of the towns, even on the coast. 



264 



RIP VAN WINKLE'S TRAVELS. 



Two or three excursions into the interior gave me some view of 
the inside life of the people. The rice is cultivated very extensively, 
and forms a principal article of food among all classes, and you are 
often asked to eat it with the kindly native, who means by eating with 
you to express hospitality. To eat with a Madagascan means friend- 
ship. To refuse is to menace, and reject friendship. So when 




CHIEF S HOUSE, TAMATAVE. 

invited to eat, I, of course complied, and once or twice the only helps 
in the process were the fingers, the Madagascan on one side of the 
bowl and the American on the other. It is much easier to eat 
bananas or oranges with the natives than to eat rice. With these 
articles the fingers are much more useful than in the disposition of 
nee. 

There are many things eaten by the natives that we should reject. 
While their fowls and fruit are delicious, the dried locusts and the 



IN SOUTHERN AFRICA. 



265 



roasted lizards are rather repugnant to our ideas of things. The 
former are boiled, and eaten with great relish. 

Though Madagascar is far more peaceful and better mannered 




MADAGASCANS. 



than it was a few years ago, the island is far from being civilized. 
The Gospel religion has done much to change the ferocity of the 
people into habits of peace^ and the practices which prevailed a half 
century ago have given place to a general recognition of Christianity, 
as a religion at least to be tolerated. 

I filled up two or three weeks in visits to the principal cities 
ftiainly on the eastern coast, in two or three excursions into the 



366 ^^^ VAN WINKLE 'S TRA VELS. 

interior, and in the general study of the island, in its climate, produc- 
tions and people, and prepared to leave. 

But no one can be in Madagascar any length of time without an 
appreciation of what has been done for the island by the Christian 
religion. An instance of this is given by Rev. J. Sibree, who lived 
among this people nearly a score of years. "Some six years ago," he 
says, " the central government felt it to be necessary to send an army 
to put down an insurrection; but, before the army went away, the 
prime minister called the officers together, and said, ^ Now, you are 
going to fight with the queen's enemies, but remember they are the 
queen's people, too. You know how we carried on war in former times ; 
but remember, you are Christians now, and the cruelties of heathen 
times are not to be done again.' Well, that army went away, and 
one division of it was able to pacify the country without taking a 
single life. The native chief was invited to the tent of the command- 
er, and here he was shown a New Testament; the commander said, 
' This is the Book from which we Christians learn what is right, and, 
according to this Book, we never put to death or punish the upright, as 
we often did when we were heathen; but the guilty must be punished, 
for this is the word of God and the law of the queen.' The following 
day there was another interview, terms of peace were agreed upon, 
beautiful copy 'of the New Testament was given to the native chief, 
i the commander said to him, ^ If ever we make war upon you 
without just cause, or kill or punish the guiltless, show us this Book, 
then, indeed we shall be self-condemned.'" 

One would hardly realize such a change on a heathen island, 
where a little while ago the blood of the helpless martyrs was flowing 
in torrents, — an island toward which the whole world looked witn 
emotions of horror. But the change is a fact in which every lover 
of his race may well rejoice. And the same agency is lifting other 
communities, and giving them position and power among the nations 
of the earth. Paganism has done nothing ^o.j the world but to debase 




INTERIOR OF MADAGASCAR. 



268 R^P VAN WINKLE'S TRAVELS. 

it. As that disappears before the civilization of a Christian age, the 

world grows better and purer. Of these things you will know more 

as you grow older, and see more of the changes which are taking 

place among the nations. " The better day coming " is not merely a 

dream. It is not an idea that exists entirely in the visions of poets, 

but it is a substantial fact that meets us from pole to pole. "The 

better day coming!" Well, the world will be ready to hail it when 

it arrives. 

' Rip Van Winkle. 



/A' INDIA. 



269 



IN INDIA. 




BUDDHIST TEMPLE, LAKE OF KANDY, 

"Where are you bound?" asked Rip Van Winkle of the captain 
of a fine brig that was almost ready to sail from the harbor of Tam- 
atave. 

"For Ceylon." 

" Do you take passengers ? " 

"We only take passengers as a matter of accommodation to 
them." 

" Have you any for this voyage ? " 

" Tw^o, a gentleman and his wife." 

"Do you wish to take another.''" 

" Do you wish to go ? " 

*' Yes, will you take me ? " " 



270 



RIP VAN WINKLE'S TRAVELS. 



"If you will put up with such accommodations as we can offer; 
our brig is not fitted up in sumptuous style, though her accommoda- 
tions will not be very bad." 

" I will take the risk and go with you.'' 

"We shall sail to-morrow." 

" I can be ready. A man who does not carry much baggage, but 
who contents himself with a small carpet bag, can soon be off from 
any place." 

"We will do the best we can for you. But your name, sir?" 

'^ My name ? " 

The master had to stop a moment to think what it was. It was 
so long since he had heard it spoken that he was obliged to pause 
before giving it. 

" Rip Van Winkle." 

" What a name ! — any relation to the original Rip ? " 

"No, none whatever." 

"Well, Rip Van Winkle will find himself booked for a passage 
when he gets on board to-morrow morning." 

The voyage proved to be a very pleasant one. The lady and 
gentleman passengers were a missionary and his wife, the latter 
in poor health, but the weather being pleasant, the trio, — Rip 
Van Winkle having speedily become acquainted with the other two, 
— were able to be on deck almost every day, and in reading and 
pleasant conversation the time slipped off, and each one was sorry 
when the outlines of Ceylon were seen in the distance. Following 
is the letter which the master wrote to his young friends from India. 

Ceylon. 

It will be impossible for me to describe the pleasurable emotions 
I experienced when I found myself among some college chums who 
had reached Ceylon by quite another route, and who were destined 
to be my associates in travelling through the country. Our brig 
brought us to Colombo, where I parted with the passengers and 



IN INDIA. 271 

cre^v, with less regret than if I had not at once found my American 
irierids, with whom I commenced explorations. 

If you look on your maps you will see where Ceylon is, and be 
able to follow me as I skip about from place to place. " Ceylon in 
shape and position," says Mr. Urwick, " hangs like a pear from the 
southeast coast of the Indian Peninsula. The isthmus called Adam's 
Bridge forms as it were the stalk connecting the island with the con- 
tinent; the name Adam's Bridge arising from the Mohammedan 
legend that on his expulsion from Paradise, Adam passed by this 
singular causeway into Ceylon. The isthmus connects Ramisseram 
with Manaar, and is cut in one place only by a channel called the 
Paumban Passage, through which vessels drawing ten feet may pass, 
but larger ships and steamers to and from Madras and Bombay must 
go all the way round Ceylon. The northern portion, answering to 
the thin part of the pear, is one vast forest — interminable jungle — 
dotted sparsely with specks of yellow-green cultivation, but contain- 
ing the ruins of two ancient capitals, and on the east coast, the port 
of Trincomalee. The lower half of the island swells out in the 
Kandyan provinces into a mass of gneiss and granite mountains, with 
a margin of rich and luxuriant lower land; and here we find the best 
scenery, and the chief centres of modern enterprise. Almost in the 
middle of the island is the capital Kandy, connected by railway with 
Colombo on the west coast; and on the southwest corner is the 
well-known port of call. Point de Galle. 

"To the sea-trained eye of the voyager across the hot Indian 
Ocean from the east or west, Ceylon unfolds a scene of loveliness 
and grandeur unsurpassed by any land. It enjoys two monsoons in 
the year, and the abundant supply of moisture thus afforded, clothes 
it with perpetual green. Its slopes are enamelled with verdure; 
flowers of gorgeous hues deck its plains, palms of all descriptions 
abound, climbing plants rooted in the rocks hang down' in huge fes- 
toons, and trees dip their foliage into the sea. By the Brahmins the 



272 



RIP VAN WINKLE 'S TRA VELS. 



island was called Lanka, *the resplendent;' by the Buddhists 'a 
pearl upon the brow of India;' by the Chinese ^the island of jewels:* 
by the Greeks ^ the land of the hyacinth and the ruby.' It has with 
reason been regarded as the country whither the ships of Solomon 
came for ^ gold and silver, ivory, and apes, and peacocks.' " 

Colombo is a large city, and has one hundred and fifty thousand 
inhabitants. Its early name was Kalambee, but was altered to Co- 
lombo in honor of the discoverer of America. For this we may thank 
the Portuguese. And other changes have been made by Portuguese. 
Dutch and English for which we may be thankful. The three 
nations have, in time, had possession, the latter power ruling here 
since 1796. 

Among the products of the region is the cocoanut, and the tall 
trees are found everywhere. It would be just the spot, though some- 
what hazardous, for a Yankee boy to climb these trees and gather the 
fruit. " Like the Palmyra tree in the north of Ceylon," says the 
author just quoted, — " the cocoa-nut in the south yields most of the 
necessaries of life. Its fruit furnishes food, its shell drinking vessels, 
its juice palm wine and sugar, its stem materials for building, its 
leaves roofs, matting, baskets and paper. The number of these trees 
in the island is estimated to be twenty millions. The natives climb 
them with great agility, partly with the help of bamboo ladders, and 
oftener with the help of a short band of cocoa-nut fibre between the 
feet or round the loins. In Colombo the raw coffee brought from the 
plantations undergoes the process of curing at several mills for the 
purpose. Here may be seen first, the drying of the beans; secondly, 
the removal of the skin by passing the beans under rollers; thirdly, 
the picking out of the bad berries, done by women and children; 
fourthly, the distribution of the different sizes by means of sieves; 
fifthly, the process of packing in barrels for transportation." The 
town is fortified, and defended against any not very considerable 
torce. 



274 



RIP VAN WINKLE'S TRAVELS. 



The temperature is ver}^ moderate and even, averaging m summer 
80° and in winter about 70°. The commercial advantages of the place 
make it the most important of the seaport towns. 

Kandy (or Candi) is about seventy-five miles inland. It is the 
capital of the central province, and is the Mecca of Ceylon. It has 




KANDY. 



ten thousand inhabitants located on several hills. The city is verv 
beautiful, and one thousand six hundred and seventy-eight feet above 
the level of the sea. The Buddhists have a tradition that when Adam 
left Paradise he rested with one foot on one of the mountains on 
which Kandy is located, now called Adam's peak. On one of the 
boulders on the summit is the impression of a vast human foot 



LV IXDIA. 



275 




BUDDHA S TOOTH. 



Adam must have been a giant if this legend is true, for the .'"ootprint 
is five feet and one half long and two feet and one half broad. There 
are not a few sacred objects, which are held in great reverence by 
the Mohammedans and Buddhists. The sacred tooth of Buddha is 
guarded with great care. At Anurajapura is the sacred Bo-tree, said 
to be twenty-one hundred years old, which draws pilgrims from 
distant lands to see it, and sit in its shadow. 

The ancient temples are characteristic of Buddhism, and emblem- 
atic of its decay. At Matale, Anurajapura, Pulastipura, and other 
places these structures ar^. found. Christianity is making them 

useless. The Gar-urhava at Pulasti- 
pura is " a rock temple, which has in 
front four richly-carved columns, a 
raised altar, with a statue of Buddha 
seated, a statue of Buddha standing, 
and a statue of the same famous saint 
reclining — forty-five feet in length — the attitude of his attaining 
Nir\ana." 

The boys, were they here with me, would find many things that 
are seldom seen in America, — never unless they have been imported. 
Elephants and india-rubber trees abound. Crocodiles and scorpions 
are quite common. Elephant hunts are frequent, and sportsmen from 
other parts of the world come here to take part in them. All kinds 
of tropical fruits and flowers are found in great abundance every- 
where Everywhere we are reminded of Heber's Lymn, — 

" What though the spicy breezes 
Blow soft o'er Ceylon's isle, 
Though every prospect pleases, 
And only man is vile.''^ 

Madras. 

From Ceylon to Madras, — on every side are evidences of the 
prevalent religion of India, Buddhism. Dr. Malcom sa3's, — "Bud- 
dhism is, probably, at this time and has been for many centuries, the 



2 7 6 



RIP VAN WINKLE'S TRAVELS. 



most prevalent form of religion upon earth. Half of the population of 
China, Lao, Cochi;i-Cliina, and Cej-lon; all of Caniboja, Siam, 
Burmah, Thibet, Tartary, and Loo-choo- and a great part of Japan, 




TEMPLE OF THE DALADA. 



and most of the other islands of the southern seas, are of this faith. 
A system which thus enchains the minds of half the human race 
deserves the attention of both Christians and philosophers, however 



IN INDIA. 



277 



fabulous and absurd. Chinese accounts make the introduction of 
Buddhism into that empire to have occurred about A. D. 65. Marsh- 
man supposes the Siamese and Laos to have received the system 
about three centuries before Christ. A very great increase of the 
Buddhist faith is known to have occurred in China early in the sixth 
century, whi'ch may have resulted from the flight of priests with him, 
about that time, from the persecution of the Brahminists. 




MADRAS SURF. 



Buddh is a general term for divinity, and not the name of an}' par- 
ticular god. There have been innumerable Buddhs, in different ages, 
among different worlds, but in no world more than five, and in some, 
not any. In this world, there have been four Buddhs, viz., Kan-ka- 
than, Gau-na-gang, Ka-tha-pa, and Gaudama. In the Siamese 
language, these are called Kak-a-san, Ko-na-gon, Kasap, and Kodom. 
One is yet to come, viz., Aree-ma-day-eh. It has been often re- 
marked, that Gaudama was one of the incarnations of Vishnu, and 
appeared in the form of a cow. This idea has probably originated 



278 



RIP VAN WINKLE'S TRAVELS. 



with the Hindus, and is advanced to support their assertion, that this 
religion is a branch of theirs. " But no two systems can be more 
opposite, or bear less evidence of one being derived from the other. 
Brahminism has incarnations, but Buddhism admits of none, for it has 
no permanent God. If, in its endless metempsychosis, any being 
should descend from the highest forms of existence, to take human 
nature, it would not be an incarnation of Deity, but a real degradation 
of being, and the person so descending would become, literally^ a 
man. If he ever rise again, it must be by another almost infinite 
change, now to better, and now to worse, as a merit is gained or lost. 
While Hinduism teaches one eternal deity. Buddhism has now no 
god. That has a host of idols; this only one. That enjoins bloody 
sacrifices; this forbids all killing." 

The same authority gives us an idea of the last Buddh : — " Gau- 
dama was the son of Thoke-daw-da-reh, or, as it is written in Sanscrit, 
Soodawdaneh, king of Ma-ge-deh,(now called Behar,) in Hindustan. 
He was born about B. C. 626. He had previously lived in four hun- 
dred millions of worlds, and passed through innumerable conditions 
in each. In this world he had been almost every sort of worm, fly, 
fowl, fish, or animal, and almost every grade and condition of human 
life. Having, in the course of these transitions, attained immense 
merit, he at length was born son of the above-named king. The 
moment he was born, he jumped upon his feet, and, spreading out his 
arms, exclaimed, ^Now am I the noblest of men! This is the last 
time I shall ever be born!' His height, when grown up, was nine 
cubits. His ears were so beautifully long, as to hang upon his 
shoulders; his hands reached to his knees; his fingers were of equal 
length; and with his tongue he could touch the end ©f his nose! AD 
which, are considered irrefragable proofs of his divinity. When in 
'■his state, his mind was enlarged, so that he remembered his former 
conditions and existences. Of these he rehearsed many to his follow- 
ers. Five hundred and fifty of these narratives have been preserved, 



IN IXDIA. 



279 



one relating his life and adventures as a deer, another as a monkey, 
elephant, fowl, etc. The collection is called Dzat, and forms a 
very considerable part of the sacred books. These legends are a 
li^uitful source of designs for Burman paintings. Of these I purchased 
several, which do but bring out into visible absurdity the S3'stem they 
would illustrate. He became Buddh in the thirt3'-fifth year of his age, 
and remained so forty-five years, at the end of which time, having 




TEMPLE OF SOUBRAMANYA, TANJORE. 

performed all sorts of meritorious deeds, and promulgated excellent 
laws, far and wide, he obtained ^ nicban,' that is, entered into annihi- 
lation, together with five hundred priests, by whom he had been long 
attended. This occurred in Hindustan, about two thousand three 
hundred and eighty years ago, or B. C. 546." 

With the religion of India, Christianity is now competing. The 
Baptists who were early in the field, and the English and American 
Boards have wrought great changes. We are told that at " Madura, 



28o 



RIP VAN WINK L EPS TRAVELS. 



the American Board has a very efficient mission, with valuable 
schools. It was founded in 1834; since which time it has covered 
the entire province with a network of stations. It includes one hun- 
dred and thirt\'-eight congregations, a hundred native missionaries. 




ROCK TEMPLE, TRICHINOPOLY. 



and a hundred native teachers. The institution of boarding-schools, 
peculiar to missions in Southern India, was introduced by the Amer- 
ican Board, and there are in the Madura province one hundred and 
eighteen schools and training colleq-es." 



IN LYDIA. 281 

The tramp of British civilization is seen in railroads, beaten turn- 
pikes, and other signs of improvement. Such beautiful towns as 
Madura, Trichinopoly, and Tanjore, are all about us. 

Madras is the capital of the presidency of the same name, and 
is well located on the shores of the Bay of Bengal. It has nearly a 
million inhabitants, and extends along the shores of the bay about 
ten miles, and is a somewhat beautiful city. The public buildings 
owned by the British government are generally fine structures. The 
pagodas and temples are conspicuous. But the private residences 
are not of any particular attractiveness. The city has no harbor. 
As at many Mediterranean ports, vessels must anchor out in the bay, 
and lighters are used to load and unload. The fortifications are com- 
plete. Fort St. George is one of the strongest defences in India. A 
thousand men can be accommodated within its walls. The gas- 
lighted streets are kept in good condition, and the traveller has abun- 
dant reason to be thankful for British rule. Of course many sights 
are seen, and sounds heard in the streets which are novel to an 
American. The flower-sellers, the milk merchants, the vendors of 
various kinds of produce, all have their peculiar cries, and are heard 
at all times from one end of the city to the other. 

TAN70RE. 

Tanjore is one hundred and eighty miles southwest of Madras, 
a city of eighty thousand inhabitants. It lies back a considerable 
distance from the coast. As a seat of British power it is well forti- 
fied, but retains more of the distinctive characteristics of modern life 
and character than do the seaport towns. It is famous for an im- 
mense granite bull which stands over the main entrance to the city, 
a very notable piece of workmanship, which some day will come 
crashing down. The streets are narrow, the inhabitants ignorant, 
and governed by a caste that holds its supremacy against all the light 
of the present age. The traveller will get into Tanjore and get out 
as soon as he can. The temple dedicated to Hindoo worship is one 



282 ^^^ ^"^^ WINKLE 'S ' TRA VELS. 

of the attractions. The fort is another. The palace adds moie inter- 
est, but on the whole Tanjore cannot be said to be an attractive 
place. At Tranquebar, in the province of Tanjore, the Catholics 
and the Lutherans have made some progress against the religion of 
the country, and each of these sects have schools and churches with a 




large following. Like Tanjore, Tranquebar is on the river Cavery. 
Pondicherry, between Tanjore and Madras, shows its French affilia- 
tions. There are no fortifications, the building of them having been 
disallowed by the English, when in 1803 they gave up the city to its 
French owners. The landing of soldiers is also prohibited. Before 
war devastated it, it is said to have been one of the most elegant of 
all the Indian cities. 




PAGODA AT PONDICHERRY, 



284 



RIP VAN WINKLE'S TRAVELS. 



Calcutta. 

In a coasting vessel we reached Calcutta from Madras, sailing up 
the Koogly, to find an improvement in all that constitutes physical 
comfort. • ^^ There being no wharves or docks," says Malcom, " you 
are rowed to a ghaut in a dingey, and landed amid Hindoos perform- 
ing their ablutions and reciting their prayers. No sooner does your 
boat touch the shore, than a host of bearers contend for you with loud 
jabber, and those whom you resist least, actually bear you off on their 
arms through the mud, and you find yourself at once in one of those 
strange conveyances, a palankeen. Away you hie, flat on your back, 
at the rate of nearly five miles an hour, a chatty boy bearing aloft 
a huge palm-leaf umbrella to keep off the sun, whom no assurances 
that you do not want him will drive away, but who expects only 
a pice or two for his pains. The bearers grunt at every step, 
like southern negroes when cleaving wood; and though they do 
it as a sort of chorus, it keeps your unaccustomed feelings discom- 
posed. 

"Arrived at the house, you find it secluded within a high brick 
wall, and guarded at the gate by a durwan, or porter, who lives there 
in a lodge, less to prevent ingress, than to see that servants and others 
carry nothing away improperly. The door is sheltered by a porch, 
called here a veranda, so constructed as to shelter carriages — a pre- 
caution equally necessary for the rains and the sun. The best houses 
are of two stories, the upper being occupied by the family, and the 
lower used for dining and store rooms. On every side are contriv- 
ances to mitigate heat and exclude dust. Venetian blinds enclose the 
veranda, extending from pillar to pillar, as low as a man's head. The 
remaining space is furnished with jnats, (tatties,) which reach to the 
floor, when the sun is on that side, but at other times are rolled up. 
When these are kept wet, they diffuse a most agreeable coolness. 
The moment you sit down, whether in a mansion, office, or shop, 
a servant commences pulling the punka, under which you may 



IN IiXDIA. 



28i 



happen to be. The floor is of biick and mortar, covered with mats, 
the walls of the purest white, and the ceilings of great height. Both 
sexes, and all orders, dress in white cottons. The rooms are kept 
dark, and in the hottest part of the day shut up with glass. In short, 
everything betrays a struggle to keep cool." 




TRAVELLING IN INDIA. 



The methods of travelling, in spite of railroads and modern 
means of locomotion are quite as curious as is the donkey riding 
of Egypt. Cows and bullocks are harnessed into queer-looking 
vehicles, and fat, portly men ride along through the country and over 
the roads as if they had the whole generation to work in. Nobody 
hurries who ought to, and everybody hurries that ought not to. " A 
walk in the native town," says the author just quoted, " presents novel 
sights on every side. The houses, for the most part, are mere hovels, 
with mud floors and mud walls, scarcely high enough to stand up in, 
and covered with thatch. The streets are narrow, crooked, and dirty; 



286 



RIP VAi\ WINKLE'S TRAVELS. 



and on every neglected wall, cow dung, mixed with chaff, and 
'rneaded into thin cakes, is stuck up to dry for fuel. The shops 
are often but six or eight feet square, and seldom twice this size, 
wholly open in front, without any counter, but the mat on the floor, 
part of which is occupied by the vendor, sitting cross-legged, and the 









— ^^^^^f 




BULLOCK CARRIAGE. 



rest serves to exhibit his goods. Mechanics have a similar arrange- 
ment. 

"Barbers sit in the open street on a mat, and the patient, squatting 
on his hams, has not only his beard, but part of his head, shaved, 
leaving the hair to grow only on his crown. In the tanks and ponds 
are dobies slapping their clothes with all their might upon a bench or 
a stone. Little braminy bulls, with their humped shoulders, walk 
among the crowd, thrusting their noses into the baskets of rice, grain, 




A RELIGIOUS BEGGAJI 



288 ^^P ^^-^ WINKLE'S TRAVELS. 

or peas, with little resistance, except they stay to repeat the mouthful. 
Bullocks, loaded with panniers, pass slowly by. Palankeens come 
bustling along, the bearers shouting at the people to clear the way. 
Peddlers and hucksters utter their ceaseless cries. Religious mendi- 
cants, with long hair matted with cow dung, and with faces and arms 
smeared with Ganges mud, walk about almost naked, with an air of 
the utmost impudence and pride, demanding rather than begging gifts. 
Often they carry a thick triangular plate of brass, and, striking it at 
intervals with a heavy stick, send the shrill announcement of their 
approach far and near. Now and then comes rushing along the 
buggy of some English merchant, whose syce, running before, drives 
the pedestrians out of the way; or some villanous-looking caranche 
drags by, shut up close with red cloth, containing native ladies, 
who contrive thus to ' take the air.' " This description, though written 
some time since, is accurate to-day. 

A novel Calcutta character is the religious mendicant, who meets 
you when you least expect him, and sues for your generous contribu- 
tion to his wants. He is often a striking figure, combining the grav- 
ity of the judge, the serenity of the priest, the learned look of the 
philosopher and the cunning of the mountebank. When you meet 
him in the streets you hardly know what to make of him, or with 
what division of the people to class him. 

The Thugs are not so often found in India as they formerly were, 
though now and then they are met. Their very name is a terror, 
and their instruments of torture and death have made them a class 
so kated even by the milder natives that eventual extermination 
must be their fate. Mr. Urwick says the " Thugs, who abounded 
chiefly in the forests, were fanatics who made highway robbery part 
of their religion, and declared that their victims were sacrifices to 
the goddess Kali. Disguised as peaceful travellers, they would first 
engage in simple and friendly greeting, looking gentle and unassum- 
ing, and then suddenly they would throw the handkerchief noose 



IN INDIA. 



289 



round the neck of the wayfarer, strangle him in a moment, and rifle 
him of all he possessed. Sometimes a girl appeared sitting at the 
wayside weeping. The traveller, in pity, might stop to speak to 
her; but if so he was doomed. She soon had the noose round his 
throat, and strangled him on the spot. Since 1830 Thuggism has 
been suppressed, but the instinct possesses the thieves still, and the 
sight of the noose will cause the calm features to blaze with fury. 
In the school of industry at Jabalbur, some aged Thugs, proud of 
their race and profession, may still be seen. A visitor, anxious to 
understand their mode of strangling, submitted his neck to be oper- 
ated upon, but at the great risk of his life; for with the kindling 
instinct of the Thug, the illustration threatened in another moment 
to become a reality. Datura poisoning is still practised by the same 
class of people. An old man and his son were lately poisoned for 
the sake of a new blanket by a gang of Thugs. The railroad now 
conveys us in ease and security over these vast plains." 

The introduction of steam locomotion has greatly lessened the 
perils of travelling in India, and the stranger, under the protection of 
the railroad officials, feels pretty safe as he penetrates the interior. 
There are some novel features to the railway travelling, and more or 
less ludicrous incidents are met with, as well as many strange people. 

The native population does not furnish a very attractive subject 
for speculation. The people are generally poor, and live on a sum 
that an American would think ridiculously small. How it is done, a 
person with a good appetite can hardly discover. 

Calcutta has four hundred and fifty thousand inhabitants, and with 
its suburbs eight hundred and fifty thousand. It was located about 
two hundred years ago by Job Charnock, who went out as an agent 
of the East India Company. It has grown rapidly to power and 
influence. Its public buildings are elegant and commodious, and an 
American feels quite at home, as there are many American and Eng- 
lish residents. The government houses, the Catholic and Protestant 
19' 



290 



RIP VAN WINKLE'S TRAVELS. 



churches, the colleges and other edifices give the place a decidedly 
European aspect. It has been called " the city of palaces," and to 
some extent deserves the name. There are several newspapers 
printed in the English language, and some in the native languages, 
among the latter the Poono Ckundroday (Rise of the Moon,) and the 
Samachar Soodhaburshan (Diffuser of Sweet News,) both of which 
are issued daily. Several colleges of influence and character show 
that the influences of education are prized in India as well as in 
America. The beneficent work of the missionaries is seen in Cal- 
cutta, as perhaps nowhere else iq British India. 

You may ask me something about the East India Company to 
which I have alluded. From a ver}^ early period the European 
power has had more or less control in India. The Portuguese and 
the Dutch were powerful in that country in the sixteenth century. 
When the English obtained power, a grant was given to what is 
known as the East India Compan}^, to engage in trade, and in time, 
the Company became the representative of government, and able 
to defy it. The natives opposed the English as they had the Portu- 
guese, and resisted the Company. In 1709 "The United Company of 
Merchants of England, trading in the East Indies," loaned the state 
£3,190,000 in consideration of the privilege of exclusive trade from the 
Cape of Good Hope to the Straits of Magellan. This company in some 
of its forms had existed since 1599, it received its charter from Eliza- 
beth in 1600, but its power was not extensive until British rule made 
it an armed political engine of immense influence. It is a stock 
company, and while it has done much to open India to the rest of 
the world, and destroy its abominable superstitions, it has also done 
much to oppress the people. The name of Warren Hastings will 
suggest a history which one can hardly read without a blush. The 
opium trade, conducted by this company under the authority of the 
British government, has disgraced that government so that all the 
waters of the Ganges cannot wash out the stain. 




RAILWAY TRAVELLING. 



202 RIP VAN WINKLE'S TRAVELS. 

The extensive provinces of the British in India are now generally 
well governed, and Queen Victoria, in addition to the titles she 
derives from the English throne, bears the august title of " Empress 
of India." There have been twenty-eight governor-generals under 
the British crown, from Lord Clive, appointed in 1765, to the 
Marquis of Ripon, appointed in 1880; including Warren Hastings, 
Lord Cornwallis, Earl Canning and Lord Lytton. The British 
supremacy in India has not been altogether satisfactory to the rest 
of the world; but better perhaps than might be expected under the 
circumstances. The country has had its Buddhist period, its Moham- 
medan period, and its European period, — may we not hope to say, 
in time, its Christian period? The Hindus have made many efforts to 
cast off European rule, but without success, and never will until 
India has so far been enlightened as to become capable of self- 
government, and that day may be nearer than many suppose. The 
revolution of human thought in India is wonderful. 

Serampore. 

This small city of less than twenty thousand inhabitants, situated 
about a dozen miles from Calcutta, is a charming place, on the right 
bank of the Hoogly. This place was one of the earliest scenes of 
missionary labors in India. William Carey, whose tomb is here, 
came from England in 1792. He was a wonderful man. At home 
he had been a shoemaker, but conceived the plan of converting 
India to Christianity. He translated the Bible into Bengali, and 
at Serampore founded a church and school, connected with which 
was a printing press. From this press came twenty-four different 
translations of the Scriptures, all of which he edited. He was one of 
the most remarkable Oriental scholars of modern times. The 
place is now a principal seal of Christian Missions. 

Aldeen. 

This is a pilgrim spot, for here was the home of Henry Martyn, 
and the house in which he lived still stands. I would have every 



IN INDIA. 



»93 




MARTYN S HOUSE, ALDEEN, 

boy of the Triangle company read the Life of Martyn, Mrs. Sher- 
wood, who knew him in India, describes him thus, — "He was 
dressed in white, and looked very pale, which, however, was nothing 
singular in India. His hair, a light brown, was raised from his 
forehead, which was a remarkably fine one. His features were not 
regular, but the expression was so luminous, so intellectual, so 



«94 



RIP VAN WINKLE'S TRA VELS. 



affectionate, so beaming with divine charity, that no one could have 
looked at his features and thought of their shape and form; the 
out-beaming of his 50ul would absorb the attention of every 
observer." 

Lord Macaulay pays a beautiful tribute to his memory in these 
words : — 

" Here Martyn lies! In manhood's early bloom 
The Christian hero found a pagan tomb. 
Religion, sorrowing o'er her favorite son, 
Points to the glorious trophies which he won — 
Eternal trophies, not with slaughter red. 
Not stained with tears by hopeless captives shed. 
But trophies of the Cross ; for that dear name 
Through every form of danger, death and shame, 
Onward he journeyed to a happier shore, 
Where danger, death, and shame are known no more." 

The river Ganges, of which the Hoogly is a branch, is the princi- 
pal river of India. It rises among the Himalaya mountains and flows 
down to the bay of Bengal. Its total length is about fifteen hundred 
miles. It is regarded by the Hindoos as a sacred stream, and many a 
mother has come and cast her babe into its waters as a religious act, 
and seen the defenceless little one crushed and broken between the 
jaws of some enormous crocodile that was waiting for such a victim. 
The river is to the Hindoos very much what the Nile is to the 
Egyptians. The country along the banks of the Ganges is wonder- 
fully fertile, and the scenery remarkably beautiful. The boats are 
seen going up and down, filled with freight, while along the bank 
runs the East India Railway, more than nine hundred miles, and 
riding over it is much easier than going on the back of an elephant, 
or in a cart drawn by an ox. 

The Himalaya mountains are to India what the Rocky moun- 
tains are to our own country. The ascent of the lofty peaks has all 
the charm that attends the ascent of Mount Washington, or climbing 
the ice-clad summits of the Alps. " Rising one morning while it was 




yet dark," says a traveller, 
" we mounted our ponies, and, 
with guides, started for the 
ascent of the Sinchal Moun- 
tain (eight thousand three 
hundred feet), six miles from 
Darjeeling. Riding through 
the military sanatorium to ""the 
Saddle,' or Johr Bungalow, 
we began the ascent of a 
steep winding track through 
the jungle, and after an hour's 
climb reached the Chimneys 
— the ruins of the first mili- 
tary station — perched upon a 
ridge or shoulder of Sinchal, 
where Kinchinjunga and its 
neighbor peaks burst on our view, kmdled with the rays of the rising 



ON THE WAY TO THE HIMALAYAS. 



2g6 



RIP VAN WINKLE'S TRAVELS. 



sun. The air was perfectly clear, and the sky cloudless. Here we 
dismounted, and scrambled through brushwood and snow to the 
summit, which is specially celebrated, because of the glorious pros- 
pect it commands — the sweep of the Himalayan range, including 
Everest itself, the presiding monarch of them all, the highest moun- 
tain in the world. There he rose to our view, of sugar-loaf shape, far 
off, but clear cut against the sky. The entire range ^ Pelion on Ossa 
piled,' was now before us as far as the eye could reach in a clear 
atmosphere and a cloudless sky. It was like looking from a Pisgah 
across the valleys and over mountains to a new and loftier coun- 
try. Here one is overwhelmed with the majesty of Nature and 
the power of the Almighty. The deep blue sky, the pure white 
snows, the clear-cut precipices, the dark, shady ravines, the dense 
primeval forests, all impress the spectator with the presence of God." 

Benares. 

We are now in the Mecca of India, the holy city, as sacred to the 
Hindoos as Jerusalem is to the Jews. The objects of interest are 
very numerous, — the Durga Temple, the Dasasamed Ghat, the 
Burning Ghat where the bodies of the dead are burned; the well of 
Vishnu or the well of Salvation, said to be filled with sweat from 
Vishnu's pores; the golden temple of Sivi, the special divinity of 
Benares; the Dhamek or tope, an immense building, built by King 
Asoka long before Christ, in which once stood eight elegant statues 
of Buddha, representing him in different characters; with many other 
things of note and much interest. All through the city, and at Sar- 
nath, four miles to the northwest, are many remains of Buddhist wor- 
ship and Buddhist splendor. Hindoo temples and the repulsive 
Brahmins are seen in all the streets, and the innumerable evidences 
of idolatry and heathenism meet the eye in all directions. The 
houses of the missionaries are found close to the temples of heathen- 
ism. The city is a fascinating one, and all the styles of Hindoo life 



IN INDIA. 



297 



are seen in the crowded habitations and on the banks of the river, 
where many of the people are engaged in various occupations. 




BENARES. 

LUCKNOW. 

Lucknow has an interest quite different from that w^hich enchains 
us at Benares. It is a city of three hundred and tv^enty thousand 
inhabitants^ and has much natural and architectural beauty. The 



298 



RIP VAN WINKLE'S TRAVELS. 



iTiost conspicuous object is the great Imambara, in the fort, an 
immense structure, which the people regard as the central attraction 
of their city. The Dilkusa Palace, famous as having been the home 
of Sir Colin Campbell during the siege, is a fine building, but more 




PAVILION OF TINKA, KAISER BAGH, LUCKNOW. 



noted for its surroundings, the elegant park and garden, than for 
Its own beauty. Everywhere about are evidences and mementoes 
of the siege. It was at Lucknow that the fearful mutiny of 1857 
broke out, and marks of its atrocities are seen on every side. In '"•^e 
place stands the Residency, now in ruins, where Sir Henry Lawrence 



IN INDIA. 299 

gathered the English women and children, and defended them for 
several months, losing his own life in his fidelity to the helpless 
creatures who fled to him for protection. In another place we are 
pointed to the garden where the English troops slaughtered two thou- 
sand Sepoys in revenge for the dreadful injury done to the British 
residents. Martiniere is a group of palaces erected by Claude Martin, 
an eccentric Frenchman who came to India many years ago, and 
accumulated a vast fortune under the native government. The pro- 
prietor, when his huge building was finished, and covered with all 
sorts of ornaments, concluded that he did not want a palace, and 
turned the building into a school, and it now stands as his monument. 
The government elephant stables, where a hundred of these huge 
animals are kept, would interest the boys of the Triangle, I know. 
The Indian princes keep a large number of elephants for private 
and public use. Some of them become objects of much public 
regard and are treated as kindly as Jumbo, the elephant that has 
so long been known to boys and girls in English parks, but has now 
been sold to an American showman. I noticed not long ago in the 
" Indian Herald," a statement that " His sublime grandeur, the court 
and body elephant of the king of Siam," had just died, and that paper 
says, — " We regret to learn that the animal departed this life in a 
highly sensational manner, fraught with irreparable disaster to the 
stafT of the household. One morning, after a hearty breakfast, he 
went mad quite unexpectedly, and trampled five of his attendants to 
death. To shoot him would have been sacrilege. An attempt to 
tranquillize his perturbed spirit by encircling him with a huge ring of 
holy bamboo, especially blessed by the high priest of his own par- 
ticular temple, proved worse than ineffectual, for he broke through 
the ring and all but terminated the high priest's career upon the 
spot. He was then with great difficulty driven into a close court 
of the palace, where, after several furious endeavors to batter down 
the walls with his tusks, he suddenly toppled over on his side and 



300 



RIP VAN WINKLE'S TRAVELS, 



Uttered a last cry of rage. Naturally enough, this heavy calamity is 
attributed to carelessness on the part of one or other of the attendants 
entrusted with the sacred elephant's feeding. The king thereupon 
interrogated the members of his sublime grandeur's household in 




STATE ELEPHANTS. 



person with respect to treatment of the illustrious deceased, and 
failing to elicit any individual confession of delinquency, decreed that 
they should one and all be punished. Having thus vindicated pro- 
priety, his majesty assumed the garb of woe, and is understood to be 
still inconsolable for his loss.'' 



IN INDIA. -Oj 

The principal bazaar, the Chowk, is attractive to strangers, and is 
crowded all day long by all sorts and classes of people. On the 
whole, Lucknow is the most interesting Indian city I have seen. 
It is the capital of Oudh, and derives from the river Gumti much of 
its beauty. 

Alambagh. 

One of the greatest generals England has ever had at the head of 
her armies was Henry Havelock, knighted for his valor at Lucknow. 
His name stands on the highest roll of fame. In Trafalgar Square 
a fine monument stands to his memory. But here where he fell is 
also a monument to speak his virtues. The monument in Trafalgar 
Square was erected by the British people. The monument here was 
erected by his widow and children. He was a noble Christian man. 
He said to General Outram just before he died, — " Outram, for more 
than forty years I have so ruled my life, that when death came, I 
might face it without fear." When the news of his death went back 
to England, there was unusual mourning, from the palace of the 
Queen to the humblest cottage in the land. The inscription on the 
monument is simple but true, — " He showed how the profession of a 
Christian could be combined with the duties of a soldier." This 
tomb will make Alambagh a pilgrim shrine as long as gratitude fills 
the British heart. 

Cawnpore. 

It is but a short ride from Lucknow to this place. And here, too, 
you are in the midst of the relics of mutiny and massacre. The town 
has about one hundred thousand inhabitants. Here in 1857 was 
a force of three thousand eight hundred men, three thousand six hun- 
dred of whom were natives. When the mutiny broke out. Sir Hugh 
Wheeler, the commandant, defended himself as well as he could, but 
the natives all left him with his little force of European troops, and 
after a heroic struggle he was obliged to surrender. This he did, on 
the pledge that he should be allowed to have free passage to Allaha- 



302 



RIP VAN WINKLE'S TRAVELS. 



bad. But as soon as he exposed his men to the enemy the blood- 
thirsty Sepoys, with Nena Sahib at their head, shot them down 

without mercy. For a 
time the women and 
children were spared, 
but on hearing of the 
rapid advance of Gen- 
eral Havelock, the 
wretch who held their 
fate in his hands or- 
dered them to be slain. 
Without mercy they 
were murdered and 
their bodies thrown 
into a well, which is 
now the first place 
vis'ted by a European 
in Cawnpore. When 
the war was over, a 
memorial statue was 
placed over this well. 
It is an angel, with 
her arms folded oi 
her breast, her win^; 
thrown back, as ■ '^ 
leans against the cross 
which is her support 
Her hands grasp a 
cluster of palm-leaves, 
INDIAN FAKIR. whilc thc monumcut 

bears the inscription, — " Sacred to the perpetual memory of a great 
company of Christian people — chiefly women and children — who, 




IN INDIA. ,0-? 

near this spot, were cruelly massacred by the followers of the rebel 
Nena Dhoondopunt of Bithoor, and cast, the dying with the dead, 
into the well below, on the fifteenth day of July, 1857." 

The city is largely engaged in manufactures of various kinds. 
The usual characters familiar in Indian cities are seen in the streets. 
The mendicant seeking your charity, and the fakir, or Mohammedan 
monk, the representative of a class of hermits who subject themselves 
to great austerities, and are held in high estimation as persons of 
peculiar devoutness and piety, after the manner of the country. 

Agra. 

Within this city, or a few miles from it, are some of the most 
noted buildings in India. The Pearl Mosque, the fort at Agra, the 
palace, with the Panch Mahal at Futtepore Sikri, a short distance 
away, and other edifices draw the attention of all travellers. Of this 
Pearl Mosque, I would like to speak to you in the language of 
another, who says, — " Pre-eminent in beauty, within the fort of Agra 
is the Mutee Mosjid, or Pearl Mosque, also built by Shah Jehan, two 
hundred and forty feet from east to west, and one hundred and ninety 
feet from north to south, with an open court one hundred and fifty 
i^^t square. This building is wholly of white marble, from the pave- 
ment to the summit of its domes. The western part or mosque 
proper, is also of white marble, except an Arabic inscription from the 
Koran in black. The domes tower high above the other buildings of 
the fort, and in the glare of the morning sun look as if really built up 
of pearl. It is not only the Pearl Mosque, it is the pearl of mosques, 
unequalled in beauty by any other. But to all this white marble there 
is a dark side, "^dark scenes in the shades below balancing the 
brilliant scenes in the heights above. Deep down are seen 
mysterious stairs descending into empty cells and covered vaults, 
and from these again descending deeper and deeper still, through 
tortuous passages, ending apparently in nothing, yet with more than a 
suspicion of a something beyond, although a built-up wall interposes. 



3^4 



RIP VAN WINKLE'S TRAVELS. 



We examined these mysterious and dim retreats, and we saw enough 
to convince us that pleasure and pain, ^ lust and hate,' were near 
neighbors in Agra, as in other places. Sad evidences were apparent 
of beings who from jealousy, or other causes, had been conveyed 
to these chambers of horror, and there executed in the eye of God 




=*''^^^^^L=L 3GteS^^3li~^L=^ 




PANCH MAHAL, FUTTEPORE SIKRI. 

alone. Beyond some of these barriers human skeletons have been 
found, some hung with ropes. Thus, side by side with the relics 
of Oriental splendor, are the visible tokens of Mogul cruelty."'' 

But what is it, fact or imagination, that is so suggestive to us of 
crime and dark deeds, as we enter the elaborate edifices of the Hin- 
dus! No matter how elegant they are, or how sun-lighted they may 



IN INDIA. 



305 



be, they have the shadow of dark deeds pressing down upon them, 

and most of them are associated with crimes that have shocked the 

civilization of the whole world. 

Delhi. 

We are now in the " Punjaub." Well, you boys ask, " What is 
the ^ Punjaub ? ' " I will tell you. India is divided, for the sake of 
good government, under British rules, into three presidencies, — Ben- 




JUMMA MUSJID, DELHI. 

gal, Madras, and Bombay. The Punjaub, — country of the five rivers, 
the rivers being Jhylum, Ravee, Beas, Sutlej, and Chenaub, — is a 
section in the northwestern part of the country, under a lieutenant- 
governorship, and is the least accessible part of the great empire. The 
city of Delhi is eight hundred and fifty miles from Calcutta, but 
easily reached by railway trains. It is a walled city, and has a pop- 
ulation of one hundred and fifty thousand souls. It is on the river 
Jumna, and was one of the centres of war during the dreadful mutiny 
in 1857. Some of the most bloody scenes of the Sepoy war took place 
in this city. Here the sons of the king were exhibited after their 



3o6 



RIP VAN WINKLE'S TRAVELS. 



execution, and the Chandi Chowk, — the bazaar street, — is liill of 
memorial spots from which the blood seems hardly to be washed 
away. 

Near Delhi is the famous fluted iron column, — the renowned 
Kuteer Minar. It is two hundred and forty feet high, and about one 
hundred feet in circumference near the ground. It was built about 
the year 1210, but little seems to be known about it. The carved 
columns of which it is composed are of iron, and taper to the top. 
From its summit a grand view is obtained. 

Delhi is well provided with public inns, railway facilities, water 
privileges, and all the accessories of a great East Indian city. The 
Mohammedan population are as strict in their devotions, and as 
dishonest in their practices as elsewhere in the empire, and one has 
little to chose between them and the Buddhists. The Christian 
religion has quite a hold at Delhi. Various sects of Christians have 
planted monasteries and schools ; churches and other religious institu- 
tions are found. The traveller in India always knows when he is 
near the seat of operation of Christian missionaries. The Gospel 
leaves its marks on all forms of society. 

Lahore. 

The city is on the east bank of the river Ravee, and has a popu- 
lation of about one hundred thousand persons. There is not much to 
attract a stranger. It is a Hindu city, and all their cities are so much 
alike, that but for a few public buildings, and the local scenery, a 
description of one would do for all the rest. The life, the habits, the 
customs of the people, the religious institutions are the same, — the 
Mohammedan and Brahmin. Lahore has an elegant mosque of red 
stone built by Aurungzebe, a vernacular college, conducted by the 
English and supported by the government, with various buildings of 
more or less interest. It is the capital of the Punjaub, and as such, 
has an importance which it would not have under other circum- 
stances. 




HALL OF PRIVATE AUDIENCE, DELHI. 



3o8 



RIP VAN WINKLE'S TRAVELS, 



Amritsar. 
Two hours' ride from Lahore brings you into Amritsar. If you 
want to know how Cashmere shawls are manufactured you can see it, 
for that branch of industry is carried to great perfection here. If you 




TOMB OF RUNGIT-SING, LAHORE. 



want to see all kinds of curious and wonderful ivory work, you can 
find it, for the workshops are busy with this kind of artistic manu- 
facturino-. If you want to see how low the human mind can be 
debased by idolatry, you can see it here, for the only God that a large 



IN INDIA. 



309 



part of the population know anything about is the " cow," a sacred 
animal that is held in more veneration than many people hold their 
Maker. If you want to see one of the most wonderful religious 




GOLDEN TEMPLE OF THE SIKHS. 



houses in the world, you will find it in this place, for the Golden 
Temple of the Sikhs (a religious brotherhood existing 'in this part of 
India, that reverence, if not worship the cow), is one of the most 



3IO 



RIP VAN WINKLE'S TRAVELS. 



gorgeous buildings in the East. It is built of white marble, in the 
midst of an artificial lake, and its foundations are washed by the 
waters that shine and glisten all around it. A well-paved way leads 




FLOATING GARDENS, LAKE OF SRINAGUR. 

to the temple, on each side of which are statues, pillars, and lamps. 
The copper roof is gilded and shines like burnished gold. The 
windows have a golden hue. The silver doors turn easily on their 



IN INDIA. ^ J J 

hinges, and almost dazzle you as you approach. The floors are 
tesselated marble, rich mosaic work inlaid with many precious and 
rare stones. Language is inadequate to describe the effect of this 
elegant structure. It is no wonder that the citizens take great pride in 
it. Its watery surroundings do not a little to enhance its attractiveness. 

At Srinagur, a place to which many resort for health, is a lake on 
which are found floating gardens, but I could not visit it at this 
time. 

Simla. 

We are now in what may be called the higher regions of India. 
What the Lebanon regions are to Syria, and the Alpine scenery is to 
Italy, this region is to Hindostan. The snow-clad ranges of moun- 
tains are not far distant, and the bracing air, the almost intoxicating 
winds, are full of life and energy. The whole region is one of great 
beauty, fully justifying the enthusiasm of an enthusiastic traveller, who 
exclaims, — "What with graceful deodaras, firs, oaks, rhododendrons, 
the magnificent scenery and the snow panorama, Simla is exceedingly 
beautiful. The rain and mist in June and July are dismal in the 
extreme; but from October the weather is enchanting. Simla is the 
seat of the Supreme Government for half the year, ^where it slumbers 
with a revolver under its pillow;' and it is therefore a place full of 
caste and cost, a sort of Indian Olympus, from whose heights the 
officials living at government expense look down with disdain upon 
the toilers in the plains beneath. It may be called a third heaven of 
flirtation and fashion. Indeed, one part is called Elysium. It is, as 
we say, ^out of the world; ' but it seems when you get there as if the 
world with its pomps and vanities, had been caught up hither out of 
the world. It is an Indian Capua. You look over a billowy sea 
of hills to the great snowy range fifty miles away, its icy pinnacles 
glistening in the silent air as far as the eye can reach. The bazaar 
slopes gradually down the valley." 

The shops of Simla are wonderfully attractive. Bric-a-brac of all 



31- 



RIP VAN WINKLE'S TRAVELS. 



descriptions is found in them, fancy articles, as well as useful things 
are shown, such as no country but India can exhibit. Much to our 
comfort, the weather is changing, and we have the best opportunity 
to see all the objects of interest. Each morning we say to each 
other, — "Is not this a charming day?" and yet each one seems to 
surpass the last. 

However, we shall soon turn from the mountains toward the sea, 




SHOPS. SRINAGUR KASHMIR. 



although we have seen so much of India as to be bewildered, we 
seem hardly to have become acquainted with it. 

The hot weather makes us wish to get into a cooler climate, or be 
nearer the sea. Chambers' Journal well describes the hot weather of 
India, — " say at a central position like Allahabad. In January the 
indoor temperature will reach its mininum, perhaps standing at 
fifty-four degrees. The rise is very gradual, and gets into the 



IN INDIA. , J ^ 

'eighties' toward the middle of March; when steady at eighty-five 
degrees punkahs become necessary. Above ninety degrees the heat 
is oppressive, and at ninety-five degrees horribly so. This is gener- 
ally the temperature indoors during the lull between the monsoons. 
In exceptional years I have known pillows and sheets to be uncom- 
fortably hot, requiring sprinkling with water; and I have similarly- 
retired to rest in drenched night-clothes. But the hot weather is 
mercifully interrupted by two remarkable meteorological phenomena. 
First, at its commencement we have almost always violent hail- 
storms, which beneficially cool the air, and then at its acme we have 
those very remarkable electrical dust-storms which impress fresh life 
and vigor all around. Let me describe one. Nature seems subdued 
under the great heat, and is in absolute repose. Not the faintest 
movement in the leaves; silence prevails, for even the garrulous 
crows can't caw because their beaks are wide open to assist res- 
piration. Suddenly the welcome cry is heard, a storm coming! and 
the house servants rush in to close all doors. Anxious to witness the 
magnificence of the approaching storm you remain out to brave it, 
and soon feel its approaching breath on your cheek. Looking to 
windward you see a black cloud approaching, and before it leaves 
and sticks, kites and crows circling in wild confusion. You now 
hear its roar, and, while rapt in admiration, you are enveloped in 
its grimy mantle, and have to look to your footing in resisting its 
liiry; and this is no joke, for eyes, nostrils, and ears are occluded with 
dust. As the blast approaches you may see a flash of lightning and 
hear its clap of thunder, and then feel the heavy cold rain-drops 
which sparsely fall around. Darkness, black as Erebus, surrounds 
you, darkness which literally may be felt, for clouds of dust occasion 
it; and if you are within doors, night prevails, requiring the lighting 
of lamps. The storm passes, light returns, and you find everything 
begrimed with dust. Every door is now thrown opetj to admit the 
cool, bracing, ozone-charged air, which you eagerly inhale with 



^jj_ RIP VAN WINKLE'S TRAVELS. 

dilated nostrils, and feel that you have secured a fresh lease of 
existence." The punkahs referred to are the machines for fanning 
the rooms, which, in the hottest weather, need to be kept in motion 
continually. 

CUTTACK. 

Well, the time has come for me to leave India. From the Pun- 
jaub to Guttack in the Bengal Presidency was quite a jump. It took 
many days, and many modes of travel, and many aweary ride to make 
it. Returning from the north, our company repaired to Allahabad, 
where, for reasons which I need not detail, our party broke up, some 
going to Bombay, which is about eight hundred and fifty miles in one 
direction, and Calcutta, which is far away in another. One of my 
friends, however, having decided to cross the Bengal Presidency to 
this point, I concluded to join him. We have come partly by rail, 
partly on elephants, partly in boats, and had a wild trip, and a fine 
chance to see the life of Indian towns that lie away from the main 
routes of travel. This town, the capital of a little province that bears 
the same name, is hardly worth a description, and I am only stopping 
here long enough to rest, in order to start again. 

I propose to cross the Bay of Bengal, and proceed through Burmah 
and Siam into China. I shall wait here until some friends whose 
acquaintance I have made in India, arrive, when, with them, I shall 
proceed toward the Celestial empire. 

Rip Van Winkle. 



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